


Cathedral of Scars

by Kameiko



Category: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Angelic Flying Cats, Angels, Angst, Animal and Bug Souls Heaven, Blood Flowers, Blood Runes, Body Horror, Calming Runes, Captivity, Churches & Cathedrals, Demon Dogs, Fairy Angels, Fallen Angels, Fanart, God - Freeform, Heaven, Horror, Hugs, Human Souls Heaven, Kissing, M/M, Murder, Pluto Rehabilitation, Psychological Horror, Romance, Shuttle Whales, The All Known Library, Underage Reincarnation, Universal Fish, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-08-21 23:35:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16586447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/pseuds/Kameiko
Summary: Adam wishes he never came back to Detroit like his former boss asked him to, but the man can be very convincing. No excuse, Adam's friends would still be alive, he wouldn't be hunted, and he would gladly miss the opportunity later in life to fall in love. That is, if he still thinks he has a life that is worth falling in love over. Follow Adam's journey as he struggles with his psychopathic ex-boss who loves drinking the blood of the people around them and shows him the way of love and vampires, a head strong vampire hunter who will burn down the church to kill his prey, and a man who will persevere his goals all the way up to death do they part. Carnage awaits every body!





	1. Cathedral of Scars - Part 1 - David Sarif/Adam Jensen

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any franchises, products, and characters mentioned in this story. My work is purely for everybody's enjoyment, and I would like to keep it that way. Having ownership over all this that requires contracts and other lawful fruitfulness is just too much responsibility. I am not ready for that kind of work, nor does my massive paycheck of $0.00 show for it in the world of fanfiction.

 

 

Artwork done by the amazing [soothsayerc](http://soothsayerc.tumblr.com/post/180587778020/jensen-madonna-lilies-miller-bird-of)!

Adam’s awaken from his sleep by the auto toned overhead speaker on the plane, booming loudly with instructions of what to do before they arrive to their destination. Adam rubs his tired face as he sits up. He listens to the lady over the speaker talk in Czech first, he really couldn’t understand what she’s saying, he hasn’t had any time to study.  Adam only landed in Prague nearly a day ago, till he received a phone call from Sarif telling him to come back, an urgent matter needed attending to. Getting a pass back from the one and only Joseph Manderley proved to be one of those times he really had to endure patience and sneer; especially, when Adan hasn’t even met the director of TF29 yet. He hates talking to Manderly, he always gives off a creepy bad aura that he’s going to do something evil within the next five minutes. Suspicion on the first day of the job is never a good sign. Adam is thankful that Sarif made the phone call in the first place, he didn’t know how much more scrutiny he could’ve handled because of his previous antics with the TF29 North American division. Then there’s that man with him, wearing a yellow colorful jacket, weird tattoo under his eye, and had that look that says he’s up to no good.

_-Please make sure all material belongings are put away in your carry on. We’ll be arriving to your destination shortly! Thank you for flying with **Cape Canadroul Aircraft** and we hope you enjoyed your flight. If you wish to share your experience, please leave your feedback at-_

Adam tunes the rest of it out. He didn’t know when the English lady started speaking. Must have been when his thoughts were convoluting elsewhere. He needs to learn when to listen to the important things. Lately he hasn’t had any time for himself. With TF29 bombarding him in the United States to hop on the next plane to Prague and bring all the problems with him, it’s no wonder Adam has no time to settle, unpack, and relax. Sitting up he peers outside his window, he can see the clouds and the bright sun beaming down over Detroit, giving off the warm golden hue. Not even one day and Adam is already missing everything about this city, even if it’s dirt poor and there are more homeless people than any other city in the united states.

_Ping. Attention all passengers: we have landed at the destination. Please remain seated for the time being as the captain would like to go over with you about-_

Adam ignores the speaker again. He doesn’t have time to listen to a happy captain talk about the city of Detroit. This isn’t even normal for him! He already knows about Detroit, so do majority of the people on this plane. Only the small amount Czech citizens would enjoy this since they’re on vacation here, what a place to pick to settle down. Adam wonders why they couldn’t have picked somewhere less painted like Florida or sunny California. They both have _Disney_ assorted theme parks, and what foreigner doesn’t love _Mickey Mouse_? But no, they chose the car company-city of the world: Detroit. Adam’s not complaining, he misses home. He misses Pritchard, Malik, and Megan. When he received a higher job offering from someone willing to give him more than what Sarif offered he couldn’t refuse. He has the skills and abilities that any black ops military like government needed. He welcomes it.

_Ping. You may now exit the plane. Please be courteous to your fellow passengers and watch your step. Thank you!_

Huh? Nothing about product placement of online sites? Guess even the plane’s automatic AI is in a hurry to get out of there. Adam stands up and grabs his luggage out of the compartment above him. He didn’t have to worry about any passengers near him, because he flew the really fancy first class, the best that Sarif’s money could buy! He criticizes himself for making such a joke. He’s not really like this, not all the time. He blames the tension going on in his head. The jokes coming out of his fellow colleges’ mouths are going to be quite troublesome. He can already picture the unbearable snarky comments coming from Pritchard.

_Jensen? Back already? I could’ve dealt with your water downed remarks over a phone that you don’t even own, so maybe find a pay phone next time, if they still exist of course. That’s a blessing in its self. You also didn’t have to come all the way back here just to get a high off me tormenting you, I would’ve flown over to Prague myself and do it free of charge. I can also bother you online if it’s your wish. Do I need to show you how to use a webcam? Even you can handle something this basic and you love your ancient Knick knacks._

More trouble than he’s worth. Another spitting out the word “Francis” in a harsher light might put Pritchard back in his place. Then there’s Malik. Good old Malik will just flirt with him in a natural fun way. Adam can’t say he doesn’t like it. It’s nice when someone isn’t making boastful and irritated comments to his face.

_Hey, Jensen! What chaya doing, Spy Boy? Enjoying the view from the highest viewing window? I would’ve flown you to Prague myself if you just had asked me. I know you don’t like us getting involved in your own corporate affairs, but…don’t forget about us, ok? We need to take that trip to Hengsha one day. I must show you the beautiful night life there! Just wish the lower section had more plants and trees to take in, but I can always fly you over the roof. The prettiest trees in the world live there._

He knows her teasing only leads to something that makes her happy with her adrenaline rush flowing at high altitudes, giving her the best endorphins she could ever ask for! He admires her self-attitude and caring personality. The only problem is she doesn’t really look out for her own safety. Not like…Megan. Adam thinks back to Megan. They broke up some time ago, but their friendship remains strong. She’s always going on about how his DNA and personality are going to change the world! Adam agrees with his blood but personality? He wishes no one else ever inherits his personality through genetics somehow.

_Adam! I am glad you’re back! I really want to show you what you have done for us! I know I said it’s too early, but we’re on the road to cure augmentation rejection syndrome! Isn’t this great? By the way, how is Prague? I heard the city is very pretty! Lots of busy people, great martini’s, and they have beautiful statue representation to admire! Next time, I want to go with you, when you’re not working of course!_

Adam can picture Megan tabbing away at high speeds on her tablet while talking a million miles an hour. The woman is always working, but still having some time to stop and chat with Adam. Even Adam’s security personal would complement him. They would praise him for doing a bunch of heroic deeds, it gets to a point where Adam must secretly avoid them. He doesn’t mind the thanks, but when everyone of his employee staff looks alike it feels like he’s in an endless loop of being put on a trophy pedestal. At least the janitors give him a bit of leeway and talk about what it’s like out in Detroit. The city has its problems with gangs and litter, but that’s just a minor setback. If Sarif is still working on putting a city-wide cleaning crew together than Detroit can get back to city that it needs to be.

_Ping. Incoming transmission from Frank Pritchard._

Adam answers the ping with slight annoyance. It’s too late at night for his bullshit. “What is it, Pritchard?”

The man says nothing at first. Adam can hear the heavy breathing coming from his I-link with a few gulps in between. Adam starts to get worried. He’s never seen Pritchard act like this. He’s always calm and ready with a snippy quip when Adam does something to piss him off. Sometimes Adam wishes his CASIE could read evaluated blood pressure and heart beats in his head, but this time he didn’t really need to. He gets off the plane and goes over to a quiet area near the customs station to talk to his fired.

“Pritchard?” Adam sits down on the seat and watches the people from different parts of the world pass him like he’s invisible.

“Jensen! Don’t come here. Something’s not right!” Pritchard is in the men’s restroom of the Sarif complex sweating. He doesn’t know why he’s acting like this. He takes his jacket off, throws it on the ground, and grips the edges of the bathroom counter. Trying to gasp for some air instead of wheezing.

“If you’re not feeling well you need to let human resources know, so you can go to the doctor or LIMB clinic. If you need someone to take you, I am not too far from the building. Only if this can wait, if it can’t call an ambulance.” Adam stares off at the people who’re wondering why he’s mumbling to himself. He taps his CASIE implant over his left eye to let them know he has a communication chip in his head, and then gives them a subtle glare to mind their own business. The people didn’t even notice it at first, because they can’t see his eye expressions through his sunglasses.

Pritchard looks up in the mirror. He notices that there are what appear to be two bite marks on his neck, they’re a nasty purple and black with blood oozing out of them. He feels faint, any moment he’s going to pass out from blood loss. He needs to get to an area where there are people to help him. He steadies himself and bursts out the bathroom door. He looks around to see if anyone is here, no one is, not even Amanda who should be sitting at the front desk to greet the people that come in. This is strange. He grips the side of the wall, moves along to the elevator. He repeatedly taps the up button, thinking that doing this will make things better if he sees a familiar face.

“Pritchard? Are you still with me? I can hear the elevator in the background. That’s not where the front door is. You need to go out the front door and wave down help or call an ambulance!” Adam gets in line to get himself checked back into the states. The line is moving fast, and he needs Pritchard to answer before he has to put him on hold for a brief period.

Pritchard doesn’t answer him. He clutches his neck, vision swimming, and he nearly falls forward into the elevator doors. He places his hand on the doors to prevent a broken nose. The doors didn’t stay closed for very long. They swing open, causing Pritchard to fall forward. He thinks about how much he’s going to kill someone for giving him a messed-up face to go along with his hideous love bites. That is till a pair of golden augmented hands catches him mid-fall. He is momentarily thankful till he sees who his savior is.

Sarif. David fucking Sarif, the guy who Pritchard thinks tried to seduce him and bite his neck off just rescued him. Pritchard wants to ask him why he did this to him, he knows he did this to him. The blurry augmented hands help him stand up and lead him to the penthouse office. Pritchard looks around the blur, he couldn’t move. Every part of his body is starting to feel stiff, and there are blood trails being left behind him. He thinks Sarif knows this, he’s lifted into the augmented man’s arms, and laid right on the couch. Pritchard lets out more heavy breathing, and his heart feels like it’s not pumping enough oxygen into his brain. Things are starting to get whiter.

Sarif runs a hand through the hacker’s hair. “Sorry for not finishing what I started with you, Frank.” He says all this on a separate I-link channel. Adam doesn’t need to know what’s happening. He presses a finger to Pritchard’s forehead. The hacker’s eyes dulled out to a grayish tone. Things start to feel…unreal and he couldn’t control his thoughts or mouth.

“Jensen, can you still hear me? I want to let you know I called an ambulance a few minutes ago, they came, and I am on the way to the hospital right now.” Pritchard screams inside his head that this is not what he’s thinking! Sarif’s finger must be doing something to his to implant.

Adam has Pritchard on pause. He didn’t hear what he said. He’s at the front of the line now checking in. The officer stamped his passport and welcomed him home. Adam takes the passport, gives the man a nod, and goes to get his luggage. He resumes Pritchard’s call to see that he left a message. He listens to the playback and even hears a pair of doors closing, he assumes that’s the ambulance ones. Good. The stubborn man used a bit of the little common sense he had to get himself some help. This calls for some complimentary flowers of the yellow variety to signal a strained friendship and a box of fantasy delights to show how much he cares, hopefully Pritchard takes the last bit the wrong way, so Adam can make sure the man didn’t lose the sarcastic humor.

Making his way out, Adam stops by the vending machine to grab himself a bottle of vanilla milk. There’s no cereal to pour it in, but the taste of plain vanilla is refreshing. He doesn’t get this very often where he works, because Sarif doesn’t want to spoil his employees. Adam doesn’t see how this is considered spoiling. After saving his life from those _Tyrants_ he deserves a little leisurely. The whole company team does. People almost died trying to get to the top-secret project. Adam stares at the bottom of his empty bottle. Megan nearly got captured along with the secrets of his DNA. He knew for a long time what his DNA is about. Megan had a joking idea to test his blood when they were living together to see what kind of blood he had. Other than it being O-.

_“Just as a joke! I am really desperate for some samples!” Megan giggles, hiding the real reason. Just don’t think about it. “Just admit you have bad blood!”_

_Adam rolls his eyes. “Megan, you’re not going to come up with some mind-blowing thesis based on my boring blood line of ‘bad blood’.”_

_Adam is at Megan’s house, sitting on the chair, enjoying a glass of whiskey and petting Kubrick. Peaceful times are happening right now. No more **Purity First** and non-peaceful protests. Sarif made sure that both were put to rest for good. Adam doesn’t know how he did it, but nobody got hurt; and at this stage of his life he just wants to relax with his girlfriend and lean back in this nice recliner. Maybe even build that fence he promised her. _

_“Please?” Megan shows Adam the only tube where is blood will be going. She has a stash of these things just in case she finds something interesting. The butterfly needle that would just go in his hand is shining brightly in the light. Not the worse kind of needles, better than in his arm where his veins are poorly visible under the skin._

_“Alright, but just this once.” Adam rolls up his sleeve to his elbow. Megan gets right to work with the sterilization._

_Before Adam even has time to flinch, Megan is finished. She applies a cotton ball to the wound on the tops of his hand. Making sure the blood coagulates quicker with the pressure. Adam uses his free hand to brush over her’s. Megan looks up at him, smiling, and it quickly turns to sadness._

_“Megan? What’s wrong?” Adam watches her face. He can see the tears. Why is she crying? It’s just a simple blood test, nothing is sprained, fractured, or broken. She even places a dinosaur band-aide over it!_

_“The fact you let me do this to you breaks my heart.” Megan smooths out the band-aide on top of the cotton and takes the tube away to put it somewhere in storage where it’ll be good by tonight. She’s going back to work in an hour, she needs to get her head in the clear, out of the clouds, and forget about the demand for Adam’s blood from Sarif._

_“Megan?” he stands up, kneels to where she had fallen to her knees in the kitchen. He’s worried about his girlfriend. Something feels off about this whole thing. He gave her his consent, why is she acting guilty over this? Unless, there’s something she’s not telling him._

_“Adam…I…” She leans against him, scared. She’s scared if she tells him anything something will happen to him, her dog, and herself. She couldn’t allow anything bad to happen to the people she cares about. “I…”_

_Adam can see the fear and the guilt. “Are you in danger? Did someone tell you to do this?”_

_Megan tenses up. Is she that easy to read? Adam’s not even augmented and has no CASIE. Maybe she’s just that open of a book. An easy target for someone to read; especially, to Sarif and his…glaze. A hurtful glaze that burned into the back of her retina’s till she agreed to such inhumanity. She didn’t even want to take Adam’s blood! Why did he need it anyways? Is there something she doesn’t know about?_

_Adam rubs her back in reassurance. “We’ll get through this.”_

_Then the breakthrough and attack happen on the same day the broke up._

Adam throws his empty bottle in one of the many _Sarif Industries_ recycling bin. The irony of how Sarif muddles his hands into every opportunity to spread his name, even in the name of supposedly helping the planet. He grabs his luggage from the conveyor belt, and then goes the money exchange booth, still thinking about the altercation with the _Tyrants_ and Megan breaking up with him. She said she is in fear of his safety and didn’t want him to get close. Those soldiers nearly took her away, and all he had to do to save her involved a very thick pane of glass, muscle strength, and mounted plasma turrets in places Adam didn’t even know existed. Took them all out in one shot. Himself? He had to get intensive surgery. Sarif even supplied him with experimental augmentations that he had been working on with a man named Bob Page.

_Ping. Jensen, it’s Malik. I am here in the hangar part for vehicles like mine of the airport waiting on you. Might want to make it quick, people here are getting impatient with wanting a parking space for their own planes._

She sounds normal at least. Did she know what happened to Pritchard some time ago? He must ask. He makes his way to the hangar part of the airport. It’s big, chatty, and blaring with people constantly talking over the coms. Adam doesn’t like it. He quickly makes his way to the designated V-TOL area. He sees Malik leaning against her bird waving to him. Adam walks over to her and is greeted with a big hug! He’s only been gone for over a day. There’s no need for her to…her fingers are clutching his back hard, not wanting to let go. Her knees are trembling.

“Malik?” Adam pulls away. She must have found out about Pritchard with the way her body is acting.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to act unprofessional.” Malik wipes her eyes, she didn’t realize she cried. “We really must be going. Sarif is waiting for you.”

Adam doesn’t say another word. He loads his stuff onto the V-TOL and straps himself in. He stares outside the window, watches the other V-TOL’s take off in a swift and stylish fashion. People are cheering from the ground and holding up signs and checkered flags. That’s right, a V-TOL race convention is this weekend. Adam knows Malik has mentioned about wanting to participate sometime ago. Smiling, Adam communicates with her through the channels to see if she is.

“No, Adam, sadly I am not.” She sounds disappointed enough. Sarif must have her working double overtime this weekend. “I am busy transporting cargo to _Versalife_.”

 _Versalife_? Since when has Sarif dealt with that company on a regular basis in the flying department? They’re nearly sworn enemies of one another. All that’s missing is the makeshift head hanging on their proper plaques on the wall. Well, whatever it is, something must have changed since they’re the only company that has a patent to the _Neuropozyne_ drugs and a full on-support for recycling project with their rival company. From what Adam heard in the grape vine, Page, the CEO, had to play dirty just to get the rights to even accomplish a task. Not even talking a little dirty here, but to the extreme of questionable blackmail that ultimately led to murder. Adam did read in the paper about the murder of Hugh Darrow, one of the creators of such the drug, the day after an accord. He didn’t think back on it till now…Sarif struck a full fledge deal that day too.

“You ok, Spy Boy?” Malik checks her front image display computer to see Adam is sitting there lost in thought. “I know I haven’t been talking much…”

“It’s ok. You need to concentrate on flying. I know you’ll be busy working with Sarif’s cargo.” Adam leans back against the wall of the V-TOL. A very uncomfortable place, he’ll have to recommend some comfortable interior the next time Sarif foots the bill for this set of wings.

Malik looks straight ahead. Yeah, cargo. Malik feels uneasy talking about this. She thinks something is wrong with what she’s carrying. The…cargo is always in tight containers that are set to a certain temperature of coldness. She feels like she wants to vomit every time she gets near one. There is this one time when one of them weren’t air tight, and the smell that came from it...

_Ping. Adam! Faridah! It’s Sarif! I am sorry to come over the inner com like this, but I need to know your guys ETA? I need to hurry up and set up this shebang! It’s going to be great, and I don’t want to start this party without you two!_

A party? Sarif called him to come back from Europe so he can attend a party? Adam doesn’t even like parties! This better be an important party announcing that Sarif has conquered the cure for AID’s and had ended world hunger. Otherwise he’s not interested in mingling with guests and making sure nobody accidently touches one of his Typhoon ports. He unconsciously touches his augmented arm. The sleek blackness staring back at him, screaming at him to use his Icarus landing system to jump out of this V-TOL, and hope to land back on the next plane to Prague from this high up. Adam is almost willing to agree, but his luggage is still here; and he couldn’t ask Malik to haul it back to the airport.

“Sorry, boss. We’re almost there.” Malik looks away from the monitor and concentrates on flying, ignoring the strain in her voice. After Sarif’s satisfied with her response, she takes a deep breath and exhales.

Adam hears the breath taking in his I-link. She never closed out of the connection. “Malik…” He’s seen this kind of worry before with Megan. Things didn’t go well from that day, and he’s afraid he’s going to lose a friend, one who doesn’t want to push him away in fear of safety. That’s Adam’s job with her.  

“I’m sorry, Jensen.” Malik sets the controls to auto pilot and leans back in her seat. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Adam wishes he had a watch to fidget with. Sometimes when the bad talks that are going to happen or be said his fingers will start to scratch at something. They don’t hurt him or leave any marks, and it does make him feel better. He just needs to move something, bounce his leg up and down, draw hearts in the dust on the V-TOL, or even grab a smoke from a pack he doesn’t have.

“I think I am transporting deceased bodies. One of the containers….slipped open one time.” The container itself didn’t “slip” open. The worker that gave her the container looked at her with a fear she has never seen and a face that looked so green that he could be identified with the H _appy Green Giant_ on those bags of peas and green beans. She never heard from him again after that, afraid that she ended up transporting bits of his body parts in the last shipment of containers.

“What do you mean?” Adam looks around with his augmented vision, no signs of blood splatters or looks of a cleanup job.

Malik places her face in her hands, she didn’t want to see her reflection of despair in any windows and monitors. “I don’t know. I’m afraid something is going on with Sarif and the company. Pritchard never…”

Adam’s attention goes to the review monitor where Malik’s face appears. He sees that her face is still covered, and her body is visibly shaking. The need to comfort her and tell her everything is going to be ok settles in. He swallows the lump in the throat, unbuckles his seat belt, and goes up to the monitor. He gets close to the loud speaker, leans his forehead against the wall with his arm above it. The bad feeling that something bad is going to happen when they return to the company makes the hair on the back of his neck rise. He closes his eyes, urges Malik to continue with reassurance that he’s not going to abandon her, he’s her protector for right now.

“Pritchard didn’t check into the hospital. I checked. The clerks told me that there is no man by the name of Frank Pritchard staying at their hospital.” She lowers her hands to her lap, stares down at them as if there’s blood on them. She feels like there is, all the things she’s done…retribution in the worse way possible is the only solution for all the things she’s kept quiet about.

Adam feels a sense of chill run down his back. First the hairs…now his mechanical spine that his flesh is forcing him to feel, even if it’s a placebo. A bunch of bad things are about to go down at the company with this party. Feels like a death day kind of party. Adam sits back down in his chair and tries to peace everything together. If Pritchard isn’t at the hospital, then where is he?

Malik folds her hands together like she’s about to say her prayers. “I tried the other hospitals in the area, no luck. I’m afraid Pritchard is in a container, Jensen!”

“Hey, it’s going to be ok, Malik. When we get there, we will confront Sarif about this. We will get to the bottom of this and find Pritchard. Mark my words.” Adam puts his foot down. Malik will not die on his watch, but…what about Megan? The other employees? The scientists? Athene? Amanda? They might be already dead. He tries not to assume the worst possible scenario, Malik could be exaggerating, and the night air is making her a little on edge.

Malik looks over to see they’re over the Sarif building. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to everyone, Jensen. They could already be dead, but make sure you stay on your guard.”

“I want you to fly off when we land, Malik. Don’t stick around.” Adam gives this out as if it’s an order. One that Malik must follow, because…she doesn’t need to be caught up in all this or get hurt.

“He will find me!” She has tried to escape in secret, Sarif didn’t like it. Nearly threatened to blow her up inside the V-TOL. She thought Sarif is having one of his bad days but turns out she found miniature typhoon explosives on her ride. Took forever to remove them, and she doesn’t even know if she picked them all off. She took a huge risk driving Adam around without telling him any of this.

“I’ll make sure he can’t.” Adam touches the monitor above him. Fingers out stretched to Malik to give her some comfort. He couldn’t convince her to leave even if he wanted to.

They land and exit the death trap. Adam looks around with his augmented vision to see that the rooftop is quiet, probably all down in the lobby for the party, but that would be abnormal as someone always must be here to check for unwanted flying visitors. He turns back to the bird, something on the side starts to blink....

“MALIK! RUN!” Adam grabs Malik and he Icarus Dashes to the front door of the building, forcing it open with a harsh slam, and continues to Icarus Dash all the way to the stairs.

 _BOOM_! The V-TOL has exploded, debris is flying everywhere. Adam turns to see the glass has shattered and smoke is starting to fill the area. Malik pulls the fire alarm, nobody bursts out of their offices or the bathrooms, nobody is here. The two start down the staircase and checks the lower floors. Mops are lying on the floor, doors are opened, the water from the fountain is running, and based on the smell, something is burning in the microwave. Where is everybody? They need to check the lobby. They go down to it, again, nobody is here, but there are signs of a party. Confetti is everywhere, deflating balloons are starting to litter the floor, and a banner torn to shreds is hanging off the scaffolding. The party has started, and they’re late to it.

Adam pushes Malik behind him. He uses his augmented vision to see if there are any signs of life. There are signs of bodies in certain areas. One of them is at the front counter desk. Adam quickly checks to see who the body belongs to, it’s Amanda, the front receptionist. He checks for a pulse, there is none, and her pupils are distorted, and blood is pooling out of her neck. Adam checks the marks, bite marks, and the wounds were not closing. Malik stands behind him with her mouth covered and eyes ajar. She wants to throw up.  

Adam closes her eyes and stands up, careful of the puddle of blood around him. “She didn’t deserve this…” She is a friendly woman and in a good way, very chatty. More people needed to be like her.

 _Clap, clap, clap._ “Well done! Too bad you’re both late for the party! It’s a banging shame!”

Malik and Adam turn to see Sarif standing at the top of the staircase. Blood is covering his expensive suit and his sneering mouth. He looks distasteful with that tooth pick in his hands, picking at his teeth as if he’s got pieces of…flesh stuck there…from biting into the victims. Adam feels grossed out when he flicks the flesh off the toothpick.

Sarif climbs down the steps with his arms wide open, staring at Malik with all the blood dripping down his lips. “Faridah! So good to see you alive! I am glad you made it out of that explosion! Still need someone to transfer all these crates for me.”

Malik clutches onto Adam’s arm. “Sarif! What have you done?! These people…they’re dead! Where’s Pritchard and Megan?”

Sarif feels a mock hurt at the mention of those two. Not even a hello from his two favorite employees? He places his hand over his heart and looks down. If there’s a spotlight in the place it would be shinning all over Sarif with pitch darkness surrounding the outside, but this isn’t a time for games. Games would come later. He presses a button on some control he has in his hand and a door opens with two people in hazmat suits rolling out containers. They leave them in front of Adam and Malik and take their leave. Adam looks inside one of them to see Pritchard’s head in cryo. He resists the urge to throw up. Malik looks in the other to see an arm that looks slender and has on something white with a beautiful diamond shape bracelet lacing her wrist.

Sarif claps his hands together. “Oh! Poor Pritchard! He just couldn’t mind his own business when he decided to snoop around the freezer.”

They had a freezer meant for people? This is something straight out of a horror movie. The two take a step back, Adam’s nanoblade’s are getting hot, ready to stab Sarif with. Sarif holds up his finger and waves it. The cocky smirk playing on his lips with every tisk. They were being treated like children, toyed with like children using their imagination to make them fight and they end up being broken into pieces, because the kids didn’t know how to properly care for them.  

Sarif raises the remote. “Lower your nanoblade or I press the control button for the little turret in the corner.” Sarif points to an open panel diagonal of the group. Adam turns to see a machine pistol is attached. Adam lowers the nanoblade, and contemplates about going into his TITAN aug. That way he has a better chance to survive, but…his shield doesn’t last forever, he has no _Biocell’s_ on him, and Malik will be in even more danger.

“Good, son.” The panel closes. Sarif fiddles with another button and presses it. One of the monitors pops on to show a freezer. In it Is Megan’s body. He eyes are open, and mouth gaped, she looks dead…someone from…he recognizes the logo… _Versalife_? Is cutting up the rest of her body and placing the limbs into those containers Malik had described. Next to it is a headless Pritchard corpse that looks like it’s ready to be dismembered next.  

“The blood bath party is something you should have been here for! I would love to have turned you both, but your…friend your ex-girlfriend friend here prevented me from doing so. That’s ok. She looks so elegant being torn to pieces!” Sarif pulls out a bottle of whiskey and a small glass from one of the cabinets under the reception desk, he wishes he had some ice to go with this “on the rocks” drink. Maybe even a pinch of blood to season the alcohol just right.

Adam backs Malik up, away from Sarif that’s closing in on them, offering them two glasses along with the bottle of whiskey. One of the glasses looked foggy as if something is smeared on the inside. “Pour yourself a drink. If you don’t, I’ll make you both sit there and watch me personally suck the blood out of Pritchard’s corpse then pet pretty Megan’s head while I suck the blood out of her skull.”

Adam pours Malik’s drink first then his own, not wanting her to die or watch anything morbid. He gives her the glass that is clean, Sarif gets angry. He switches the glasses with the dirty one. Malik doesn’t understand why. She slowly sips at her drink, tasting the bitterness of it all. Adam doesn’t even want to drink his. He just stares at the emptiness of brown looking alcohol. His thoughts are interrupted when he hears coughing from a stumbling Malik. He drops his glass, catching her before she falls to the ground.

‘You can’t save her, son. He blood is tainted with that wretched fog poison, but it’s for science.” Sarif stares at the front entrance of the building, mostly looking bored. Not even watching his favorite pilot struggling to breathe, he already has brought enough sorrow down on his shoulders, why witness the another one? He grabs the tainted glass off the ground and pours himself a drink. He gulps down the poison, gives him a happiness high.

“You bastard!” Adam starts to do CPR on her, she’s foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled in the back of her head, and her body is spazzing.

“This poison I personally picked out. I even chose the pretty red for your friend here. _Versalife_ started working on it several years ago, and I had to test it out myself! This is just the first stage of the side effects she’s experiencing. Next one is the constant feel of fire against her skin with her heart beating so hard it will try to burst out of her chest cavity!” Sarif throws his arms in delight. “I can’t wait to see what the third phase is! I heard it’s a real bloody Mary of a blast!”

Adam can’t watch this. Seizures leading into bleeding from her eyes? Then what? Is there a fourth stage? His arm blade is starting to come out, pointed at Malik’s heart. He subconsciously didn’t want to do this…the laughter coming from Sarif and in his own head is making it harder for him to think straight. A force he feels is being pushed on his forehead. He looks up to realize it’s Sarif’s finger. Pushing thoughts of letting her suffer like this out of pleasure is at his frontal lobe. Head pounding, eyes closed, blade starting to retract…NO! Adam opens his eyes, pushes forward with his arm blade, sticks it in Malik’s heart, killing her instantly. Sarif pulls back, displeased.

“You killed her.” Sarif steps away, making a call for a cleanup crew from _Versalife_ to come get their fresh new body to study. He sounds annoyed, screaming, and …fangs are showing. What the hell is going on?

Sarif hangs up, teeth still gritting. He licks them with his tongue. “Can’t get help from the simpletons here.” He turns back to Adam. “You killed her. I tried to prevent you from doing so. I wanted to watch herself suffer! It makes the blood taste better when I can torture her alive!”

“By making me watch her suffer!” Adam won’t begin to understand how he is doing this. How Sarif has fangs, can control people’s thoughts, and manipulate them to do things.

“A minor setback…which…you’re also a liability. You broke free of my mind control.” Sarif paces the room, ignoring the pool of Malik’s blood he’s stepping in. The crew will be here soon to pick it up. Right now, he needs to figure out how Adam’s body is rejecting his…that’s it! His filter! His God damn filter is rejecting his mind control or is it his genetics? Well, it’s not really mind control. He just can shape one’s thoughts, like Lucifer giving him the gift himself. He needs to fix this, take the filter out of Adam and put a clog in the genetics, so he can turn him later. Have his only son on his side. Sure, he can have his niece, but she hates what he does for a living and his sister would probably try to stab him with one of the crosses in her house.

“Sarif. I will kill you.” Adam is not afraid of him.

“You won’t kill me. You don’t have the balls to do it!” Sarif walks up to him quicker than he can blink. Adam’s arms are twisted around, broken, both of his arms are broken and facing the wrong direction. Sarif steps back and lets the man fall to his knees, gritting his teeth to the weird sensational pain. His body is trying to heal itself, and Sarif is only watching him in curiosity.

“Not only your filter…but your body is…” He rubs his chin. “Maybe I should lock you up alive in the cryo freezer and study your DNA. I mean, Hugh did it when you were younger, so why can’t I? Or…I can remove your filter and turn you into me.”

Adam glares at the mischievous grin, it’s evil. The fangs off the evil entity that Sarif has become are glistening with blood, hanging over his lips as they extend, and he couldn’t stop fucking licking them. It’s disgusting and tormenting to the mind. He watches Sarif lean over Malik’s body, picking her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a rag doll. Not even taking care of her in the best way possible for a dead person. How cruel can Sarif be? What strange thing did he find to turn him this way? Adam is pondering everything as his broken arms twitch with electrical sparks. The carbon fiber looks like it’s about to melt off.

“Just sit there while I deal with this body. I will be back for you in a bit.” Sarif whistles as he walks. Completely ignoring the hatred look staring at his back.

The worse about it all is Sarif decides to have a conversation through the channels. Adam is all thrilled just to listen to him and the sounds he’s making while shoving Malik into a meat bag.

_“Oh, son! You should just see all the delicious red meat in here! You must be careful though. There’s blood all over the floor and you might break your pretty little behind.”_

_Moving of the bags, zipping of the zippers, the bags hitting other bags…the noises._

_“I am almost done…sadly the time does move fast when packing away your favorite flavor of toy. I really want you to by my side in here. I can turn you, and we can enjoy a feast together! I can’t wait to try Malik’s blood! Sweet and rich. An Arabic delicacy! Or Megan’s! Her innocence of manipulative minds is good, the perfect white meat. I don’t think I want to try Pritchard. He’s too bland, boring, and has no sense of fashion.”_

_Smooth out the bag, order the employees of the other company to be extra careful, gather all the possessions…burn them. Except for Megan’s. The bracelet will be a trophy when Sarif decides he wants to have an arm limb to drink from._

_“I wonder if the police will come by? Cop blood is a vampire delicacy from what I hear. Taste like bacon!”_

_Vampires…that’s what Adam is trying to put together…How the fuck is Sarif a vampire? Is Page a vampire?_

_“Aw, I can hear your teeth clattering together. Don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough why you’re afraid, and I get to piece your blood delicacy together on my food chart.”_

The call is cut. Doctor’s come in from the outside with tools and sedatives. They come over to Adam, look down at him, and whisper to each other. Adam couldn’t make the words out. One of them grabbed his arm, he tries to break free, they smack him in the face, hard. He falls to the side on his other arm and in a lot more pain. Sarif comes back over to him, wiping off some ice that clung to his hands, dripping them all on Adam’s head for good humble humiliation.

“Pass out, will you?” Sarif takes his foot, brings it back, and harshly kicks Adam’s head, knocking him out. “Tomorrow is going to be a good day at the church.”


	2. Cathedral of Scars - Part 2 - David Sarif/Adam Jensen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The transformation in both mind and body starts the moment Adam is placed back on the operating table, something he thought he never had to go back to. Nobody is ready or prepared enough to handle the aftermath. Adam; especially, is not ready to handle the choices that he'll have to make in order for his dog and himself to survive. This is only the first step to the trials and tribulations that are soon to follow.

 

Artwork done by the amazing [soothsayerc](http://soothsayerc.tumblr.com/post/180182181925/vampiresarifvampirejensen)!

Back to the drawing board, the original operating table. A place Adam thought he would never visit again. He’s awake and staring up at the bright spotlight looking down on him, he can’t move his body or eyes, and his mouth is ajar. Doctors and nurses handling his natural flash with anesthesia every few minutes and scalpels are digging in his lower body, all the while Sarif is pacing the room and staring at Adam’s face, grinning with that mad grin when something is broken and taste good enough to fix. Fangs are bucked over his lips, drool coming off them. He pushes his fangs back in his mouth and wipes the saliva off. He’s hungry and desperate for Adam’s sweet rare blood type after he fixes him to perfection. Adam wants to gulp, he can’t. He coughs when he tries. The doctors stop working on him and look at Sarif with concern. Sarif waves them off, mostly thinking that he’ll live through this if they keep pumping him full of numbing and paralytic drugs.

Sarif moves to stand next to Adam. Loving the way his son’s eyes are dilated in that beautiful golden hue of theirs. He wonders if he bites him now, would the technology in the irises turn his eye color back to Blue-Gray if he lets the blood flow into the machine bits. He wants to try, he knows it’s not possible, he just wants to see the pain of agony in them when the blood comes out of the eye sockets. He shines another light down on his face, the emerald reflection bouncing off. He doesn’t like that color. He hates the fact that the golden hues can change colors depending on the light that hits them. He pushes the light away, presses his hands to Adam’s ears and moves his head side to side. Adam doesn’t have a choice in the force or the touch. Sarif leans down, sniffs Adam’s hair, smells of natural oils from not bathing for the last two days. He’ll have to change that, give his son a nice hot bubble bath after this operation. Maybe even wash his hair in that fine expensive shampoo and conditioner. Pamper him, love him, show him that being with this nut job is going to be all bloody sunshine and rainbows with a dash of lockup.

Sarif’s thoughts are interrupted when a group of scientists and doctors come in with cases of new shiny limbs. “Sir? We’re ready with the new arm and leg prosthesis. Shall we wait till the removal of certain enhancements to begin?”

Sarif removes his head from Adam’s hair and glares at the scientists for interrupting his bonding exercise. The newly limbs could’ve waited, but Page can’t. “No. Unstrap his arms and get to work right away. Then go back to your boss and tell him to fire you idiots for interrupting my ritual! An hour or two of pain will not kill what is already dead.”

They gulp. Sarif smirks, betting the group is glad that he didn’t tell them to have Page kill them. He steps back, away from the table. Arms behind his back and watches the group unscrew Adam’s broken arms and still in good working condition legs. Sarif knows Adam didn’t need any new leg prosthesis, but they wouldn’t match the arms, and they would be off calibration in contrast with the new support. They’re state of the art, upgraded with newer and shinier toys, and will have an infinite _Biocell_ converter built right in as soon as the surgeons are done cutting the old one out. Meaning, Adam will never run out of energy with his augs. Even though what little flesh of his body will be part vampire his mechanical limbs and organs will not be. Adam’s going to be a newborn and will need to learn how to walk again and learn how to breathe before he goes to the church, his own personal church surrounded by pews, scratch marks from past vampires who have all died there due to hunters and suicide by a crucifix, holy water, or just pissing off God by standing in the glass stained light of the saint’s.

Speaking of religion that Sarif is still unsure he believes in a higher being, even with clear evidence that purified water blessed by a priest can kill him, the _Cult of the Shrouded_ , also known as lesser vampires from _Versalife_ have arrived. With a heavy sigh, Sarif goes to greet them. This is one group he can’t ignore, because it’s Page’s personal lap doggy vampires. Sarif wishes he had a group that would follow him around and do what he says. Say, that gives him an idea for later when he has to dangle something in front of Adam. One of the leaders comes up to him and offer him an open brief case. Sarif opens it all the way to see a syringe of some sort with glowing blue liquid. Thing looks deadly and an uneasy feeling went down his spine. He picks it up, flicks the needle, and watches a bit of the liquid drop to the floor. It instantly dissipates. The leader takes it back with a hiss.

Sarif holds out his hands in annoyance. “What does that thing even do?” It must be something important and expensive if Page forced these people to leave their own little augmented vampire temple corporation to come here. Yes, Page’s vampires are a bit on the weird side with refusing to call them “churches” as the CEO still refused to believe that any sort of Devil has to do with these unholy beings. He believes there is some science behind this that allows the Earth elements to tone with evolution of a human’s body, and one day the body evolved just a human too far.

The leader sets the briefcase in one of their subordinate’s hands. He adjusts his suit before walking over to Adam. He places a hand on Adam’s neck and jerks it to the side. Sarif doesn’t like the way the man is handling his son. His fangs are showing, and he is ready to make a vampire blood medium rare meal out of this man. However, the leader doesn’t seem to be afraid. He just shrugs off Sarif’s gazing threat and starts feeling around for a certain neck pulse. He waves a hand up at the cult follower holding the briefcase, he brings it over, and it’s removed from its pocket. The leader stares at the syringe for a good bit, and before Sarif can ask any more questions he plunges it into Adam’s neck. Adam’s eyes widen, and his back is arching up, screaming in a pain he’s never felt in his life. He’s not even supposed to be moving!

The scientists working on Adam’s new body parts start to back up, but Adam can’t move his augmented limb parts to hit anyone within reach or thrash around. Only parts of his hips, head, and torso are moving, and this is a problem. The doctors are trying to stich Adam back up with a staple gun where the new converter is, his moving is causing him to lose a lot of blood and staples to be placed in the wrong spot. They too had to quit and move away. Sarif is curious at the evolution of all this. What did that drug even do? He turns to look at the leader for answers. He doesn’t even hesitate or move his mouth into a shock motion when he answers. He starts talking about how the drug is supposed to temporarily block Adam’s genetic anomalies, so Sarif can take his peace of the pie. This pleases Sarif’s scientific curiosity greatly. He places his hands on the leaders’ shoulders, no longer angry that Adam is hurting.

“This is excellent!” Sarif removes himself from the man and goes over to Adam’s torso. He applies a firm set of pressure on Adam’s chest. Nearly crushing all his internal organic and non-organic organs. The doctors are thankful for this but berate him to stop putting pressure or they’ll have to re-order the new parts they just placed there, he removes his hand some after that, no need for damage goods. The doctors are easily able to staple Adam backup and remove the unnecessary staples that were accidently placed on the skin. Once finished, Sarif removes his hands completely, and lets Adam thrash on with his pain. Though the screaming is becoming obnoxious, he’ll have to change that tune with something more pleasant. He goes back over to Adam’s face, places a hand over Adam’s mouth, a silent tune should be starting.

“Shut up, son.” Sarif applies pressure onto Adam’s face. This causes Adam to momentarily stop and start to gasp. Not even wanting to cry out in pain but cry for a breath of air. “Oxygen will be beneath you when I’m done.”

Adam can’t stand it. He can’t feel his legs, his lungs are screaming for air to move the gears inside, every pulse in his body is throbbing, and he wants to twitch his fingers. He can feel Sarif’s free hand grasping on the fleshy part of his shoulder, hard. The stretching of his neck makes his skin crawl and feels like it’s about to fracture the support bars. He can feel warm saliva dripping down the sore spots, pointed teeth brazing his skin, and then came the bite. He sits part of his back up, but Sarif forces him down with both hands, and starts to work his magic into Adam. Pumping him full of vampire saliva and at the same time tasting the delicious blood. This pleases the cult. The leader smiles and leaves, reporting back to Page that everything is going according to plan, and that Sarif might be the next test subject sine he is drinking from genetically altered blood with a time limit.

Adam stops thrashing. His eyes roll back in his head, memories are starting to plunge forward, white light is all around him. He can see images of Pritchard, Malik, and Megan, all with smiling faces that are cheering him on? What’s the meaning of this? Megan comes up to him, grabs his shoulders, and leans up giving him a peck on the cheek. Why? Pritchard is next to him, patting his shoulder, and making a snide remark about living for all of them. Malik is leaning against an invisible wall, winking at him. She looks good in her new heavenly white pilot suit. This can’t be real. All his friends and himself are in a hollowed out white space that feels like another plane of existence. Then the background behind them fill in, they’re surrounded by weird ashy grass, planets are in a clear view in the purple starry sky. Where the hell is this place? Is his soul truly dead?

Pritchard moves away, and they start walking across this black moon shadowed lake. “Honestly, Jensen, we thought you realize by now that you’re only partially dead. The blood is working its way through your semi-catatonic body that Sarif’s nasty germy saliva injected you with.”

Adam looks around, the street lights have mini galaxies inside them to light up their path. The houses are made of some sturdy brown wood he’s never seen before. Other people are here, people from _Sarif Industries_. They’re all chatting and having milkshakes that are filled with interesting colors and flavors with cookie star decorations resting on top, not even caring about he’s here. Once again, he asks where the hell are, they?

Megan starts to twirl around Adam. “Please find someone when you wake up. We want to meet that someone when you bring him or her here. This place is amazing! Everyone here is happy, and no one is in paint…but…”

Adam guesses she misses her dog. Speaking of animals he doesn’t even see any of those. Malik reads his mind and pulls out a helmet from behind her back, it’s got small angel wings on both sides. She places it on her head. She points up above them, farther up in the night sky he sees a city and nature surrounding it. He can’t even guess what celestial thing is holding that up. Even if he asks, he won’t remember anything when he wakes up. He didn’t the first time when he nearly died. The first time he just saw whiteness with someone looking at him with a slick brown comb over and 1880’s trench coat telling him it’s not his time.

Malik sees the look of curiosity. “Heaven’s in the stars, and the stars hold everything up.” She takes his hand, leads him away from the group. “You’re going to wake up. You have to wake up, Jensen.”

Everything starts to blur out. The scenery fades back to white, he hears Sarif and the people that did this to him screaming at him to wake up. He looks back to Malik, her figure is starting to disappear. She squeezes his hand one last time, giving him a comforting gesture before she disappears too with a farewell gift saying they’ll be waiting for him. Then there is nothing but black and an abyss. He falls down the dark hole while Sarif’s head appears to him telling him to wake the hell up or he’ll cut him to pieces and feed them to the birds. He’s starting to like that idea, because he wants to see the stars again and explore the many planets they saw. He can hear another laughter and a hiss, one that doesn’t sound like Sarif. He can’t make it out who it is. It sounded evil.

“WAKE UP, ADAM!” Sarif hits his fist on Adam’s heart. Trying to get the poison flowing. The genetic drug ran out a long time ago, but the man’s consciousness is still being stubborn.

A white serpent coils around Adam. A mischievous gleam appears, and it’s looking satisfied. Adam stares at it, grabbing under its mouth, breaking its neck. The coiling stops, and the snake disappears. He lands hard back into his body. He sits up fully, gasping for breath. He looks around to see every part of his body is back to his usual normal. Except for the change of color pallets on his augmented limbs and the staples on his skin, they hurt and they’re trying to get out of his body. He uses his fingers to rip some of them off, causing his body to heal instantly. No signs of any traces of blood, and everyone but him and Sarif are in the room.

“Good. You’re not dead in a non-figurative sense on me. Don’t go losing your soul to your own head now. I’ve been there, and this giant white snake tried to eat me! Managed to take a bite out of my neck before I ripped it in half!” Sarif pulls out two glasses filled with red liquid. Adam covers his mouth. He knows who blood it is by the way it smells.

Sarif shrugs and pours some _Nye’s Rye_ in it, Adam’s favorite. He hands him a glass. Adam stares at it, pushes it away from his nose. The smell is just AWFUL! It’s like Pritchard hasn’t showered in months! When is the last time these people cleaned their blood out? Wait, why is Adam thinking about this nonsense? It’s not even possible to do so! He takes the bottle of whiskey out of Sarif’s hands and starts chugging it. His stomach starts to get upset and he throws it back up. Sarif takes the bottle back and tosses the bottle over his head after he finishes the rest of it with ease.  

“You don’t have a normal filter anymore. Even for us vampires we had to learn how to drink and eat normally again.” Sarif sits down on one of the chairs and watches Adam vomit his guts out on the blood-soaked table. “Can you please vomit a little quieter? You’re making me lose my own appetite!” He sips the glass, smiles. Pritchard’s bad body order really needs a dash of lemon juice.

Adam answers that request with more vomit and blood. Not being able to take it, Sarif stands up and pushes Adam off the table. Adam lands with a harsh thud on his ass. He stopped vomiting, but now his ass is feeling sore and healing slowly. It’s just throbbing and will probably bruise in the morning. Standing up Adam leans against the wall, his legs are wobbly, and he’s acting like a newborn calf. Sarif comes over and helps him, and by help he pushes him out the door, into a cleaner and easier on the eyes setting also known as Sarif’s master bedroom. Why in the living fuck is Sarif’s bedroom connected to this murder room?

“Do you like the accommodations? This will be your place of stay till we move you to a more permanent cage.” Sarif forces Adam to lay on the bed, leaving the empty bottle and full glass on the nightstand. Adam might need a midnight snack later. “Stay here and don’t move while I start you a bath.”

Adam ignores him and he sits up, pain shoots up through his lower abdomen. He falls back down and stares up at the ceiling. Huh, Sarif has a ceiling mirrored installed. Probably wants his prey to see all their misery they’re in at a full 90-degree angle. He lets out a loud bark of a laugh, a pitiful one. Who cares? No one is here to hear him slip slowly into this madness. He lies there and waits for Sarif to return. He does after a few minutes, fresh clothes in hands, he sets them on the bed. He grabs Adam’s arm and harshly yanks him to his feet. Adam trips over them and ends up leaning against Sarif.

“Why, Adam, I never knew you cared!” Sarif helps Adam to stand and leads him to the spacious bathroom. Rose patterns are littered all over the walls, many colors, mostly black, white, and a dash of red in the mix. Stunning site Adam would think if he’s not being held hostage for morbid games and carnage.

“Get in!” Sarif doesn’t give Adam a change to set his foot in, he pushes Adam in straight away, causing a huge water mess around them. Even getting Sarif’s clean suit wet. He just changed it too! Oh well, better normal water than unsanitary blood infections from his unwilling victims. Makes the blood taste bad when there are cysts and poison in the mix.

Adam sits up in the bath, wishing his back would stop throbbing now. The connection to the tile of the bathroom wall made the feeling of something is broken in one of his organs for a quick second. Just a quick second, and it’s healed back to normal. Adam is quick to learn that whatever he has become is giving him a desperate healing factor boost with the after effects of bruises. He wishes to be dead and not let Sarif bathe him with those gentle blood-stained hands. Only if he had the energy to smack them away, he tries, he gets his hand smacked like a toddler would when grabbing for something they had no business grabbing.

“Don’t you dare, son.” Sarif opens a bottle of shampoo, squirts it on Adam’s hair, and gets to work with massaging his scalp. “Those new augments you have will take some time to get used to. In the meantime, I will be showing you how to unleash your thirst.”

Adam has no idea what that even entails. He doesn’t want to know, he doesn’t want to drink anymore blood of his friends or of a stranger’s. The situation is disturbing on many merits that even he’s getting the shakes. Adam closes his eyes and clutches the side of his ears, trying to tune out Sarif’s ramblings about bringing in people and animals in here for the days to come. Something for Adam to look at and talk to, maybe somebody from TF29 and his poor dog that’s still cooped up at Megan’s house, probably begging to be let out or get some food. Sarif mentions to Adam not to worry about Kubrick. He’s been going to Megan’s house every day at certain times to make sure the border collie is taken care of, out to do his business, and food and water bowl are never empty.

“Don’t touch my dog!” Adam moves away from Sarif’s hands. “Don’t you dare bring Kubrick here!”

Sarif grabs Adam’s hair, pulling him forward towards him. “I am not done washing your hair.” He lets go. Makes a grab for the conditioner, Adam stops him with a shaky and weak arm. Determined to take down Sarif here or at least get him to listen. Sarif doesn’t mind this game. He’s ready for it! He grabs Adam’s hand before the man has anytime to use as his reflex. What a shame, no potential tap early on in this stage. Maybe Sarif needs to start the procedure on Adam’s blood lust now and damn the consequences of the baby walk later.

Adam uses his free arm to break Sarif’s grip or once again, tries too. He feels his energy draining, then the active infinite _Biocell_ God kicks in, feels the blood rush coming from his body, and he starts to go for a punch to Sarif’s face again with extra strength, his hand is caught. Yes, the procedure needs to start now. Sarif releases Adam’s limbs and backs away from the tub, leaving him with conditioned hair and a washcloth. He shrugs at Adam and leaves the room, saying he’ll be back with surprises that he will be delighted with. Humiliating for the man to say that, and he feels angry for even giving into such feeble weakness, and he should’ve foreseen what the converter can do. At least Sarif has seen the field test. Adam is supposed to grow strong and help him, after he’s broken down from experiments in captivity, and Page take over the United States as two corporate entities in a land of mortals. Fuck humans, God, Lucifer, and any supernatural power-religion that will try to stop them.

The rest of the bath is hard, Adam’s mind won’t focus on cleaning himself, but he knew he must get out of this tub before Sarif came back. He has a bad feeling that Sarif will beat a person or an animal right in front of him to get him moving. He forces his aug’s to cooperate, move just a little to the shower spray. He needs to rinse the dried blood off his back. It’s too far away, the cord is barely in reaching distance, he goes to grab it, and…SLAM! Adam turns to see a stranger has walked in, wearing a cleaning suit and has the necessary tools to bathe Adam. An unsettling feeling is in the pit of Adam’s stomach.

The cleaning stranger sets down by the tub, not speaking to Adam or saying a word. He grabs his soapy washcloth and bathes the aug. Getting his back, privates, and anywhere else he couldn’t reach. Even finished washing the man’s hair and offers him a fluffy white towel when he gets out of the tub. Adam nods in approval, the stranger wraps it around his waist and motions for him to leave the bathroom. He goes to leave into the bedroom, finds the clothes to fit him softly, and goes to thank the guy but Sarif is standing there, gun pointed in front of him, side of him, and BANG! Adam turns to see the gun shot went straight towards his short-term caretaker and hits a bullseye in the middle of his head. Blood is splattered on Adam’s clean face.

Sarif puts the gun away. “Sorry, didn’t mean to ruin your pretty clean face.” He walks in, wraps his arm around Adam’s waist, bringing him to the dead body.

“You didn’t have to kill him. I cooperated with him.” Adam stares down at the pool of blood surrounding the man, his pulse starts to quicken, his teeth are chattering, fangs are starting to grow…NO! Adam closes his eyes and tries to fight it. Sarif hits him in the back of the head, making his eyes open again, staring at the dead body, heart beating loudly, not his own heart, the fresh victim’s heart. How is it still beating? Why are there pulses of strange energy going through them.

“I laced his body with a specific drug that will keep this brain-dead man alive long enough for you to take your first bite.” He pats Adam on the back. “I think you’ll enjoy this feast. I know you really loved Megan, and I tried to find the closest male form of her.”

Adam wants to refuse. Till he hears barking behind him. “You didn’t.”

“A last resort if you don’t drink his blood.” Sarif removes himself from Adam. “I’ll give you two hours to drink this man’s blood, or I will send in Kubrick to feed your sanity.” Sarif leaves Adam with that.

Adam can hear Sarif lock the door on his way out and call Kubrick a good boy, asking him if he wants a milk bone and a walk. Kubrick barks at that, wagging his little tail. Adam feels betrayed by his own dog, but he’s just an animal. Kubrick doesn’t know what’s going on. Animals only feel emotions based on the sensory of a human’s voice of hot or cold. The need to keep repeating this in Adam’s head is the only mentality he’s holding onto about his dog. He has two hours to pull his thoughts together. Use the time to think of a plan to get out of this mess with his dog behind him. He’ll break his arms just to get Kubrick out. The love for his animal he dearly misses when he left him with Megan will always be there with the shame and guilt.

“I don’t want to drink from my dog.” Adam falls to his knees and drags himself to the body. He checks the pulse just to make sure he’s not dreaming, there’s a faint one trying to pump oxygen into a dead brain. The job is pouring in, and the skin is starting to swell, tongue is poking out some blood. The body is starting to bloat, it can’t take the pressure of the blood piling up in boils. The skin is going to burst in a few seconds.

Minutes pass, the body is a in a state of unbalance. Barely recognizable, and Adam is covered in more blood than he’s ever been during his police force days. He sits in the corner, shades redacted, and stares at the blood river merging with his feet. The stickiness didn’t bother him, it felt comfortable. He dabs his finger in, makes cute hearts, stops. He shakes his head, trying to get the mental images of giddiness out. He doesn’t need this. Sarif is trying to mess with him. Make him feel at ease with all the mayhem in this one room. He closes his eyes, seethes through his teeth, breathes in and out, rocking back and forth till the lights flicker. He looks up, the snake has returned. It’s slithering through the light flashes and down to the floor. Right at Adam’s feet, fangs are shown, tongue is hissing out, speaking to him in a language he doesn’t understand by drawing something in the blood. Something that looks like scribbles of badly drawn symbols are on the floor. He still can’t make them out.

“Go away!” Adam screams. “You’re not real! You’re just in my head! Just in my head!”

The snake smirks, sticks out its tongue again and vanishes. The symbols stay. Adam’s eyes are fixated on the symbols for the remaining hours. Sarif comes in with Kubrick, looking displeased. He’s ready to just tie the dog up in here and leave him. He leans down next to Adam and gives him a tisk. Again, what a shame. The fight in this man is starting to annoy him, and he is about to call the dog in here when Sarif sees the symbols on the ground, he smirks. This is a sign from the demon lord that gave them their powers to start with by descendant.

“I see you’ve met the so-called Lucifer. Charming snake he can be. He guides us into his fucked-up plaything direction. Though I sometimes think he’s a bit stupid because none of us vampires can even read these damn symbols!” He slaps at the blood.  

Adam can see that, but he doubts the point of understanding them is the devil’s game. He places his hand on one of the symbols, feeling a strong sense of desire to drink from it. He pulls his hand away. It’s a trap. His body starts to burn up, unnatural sweat is coming out of his augments, he didn’t even think this is possible, and his blood, his blood starts to pulsate. He needs to drink, or he thinks he’s going to end up like the lasagna looking body on the floor.

Sarif watches the remaining symbols start to shake. “That idiot doesn’t tell us what to do or give us any guidance. Why is he so interested in you?” He’s not even sure if the devil is even real or its something vampires have conjured up to get their bodies to do what they need to do. Page thinks it’s just our minds playing tricks on us when we’re close to starvation and the first scientific vampire’s memories carry over in some parts of our brains. In other words, this is just a hallucination and state of mind. As if we were all out in the desert going mad over dehydration and heat stroke. Sarif would be more coin to believe him if it’s just him who is having these dreams and not every drunk or starving from blood loss vampire on the planet! Page seems to have a scientific and psychological reason for everything when he is in the face of denial! Just for once would these corporate greedy bastards believe in something that is higher than themselves? There are no coincidences that changed Sarif’s mind from agnostic to believing in something he can’t scientifically explain.

No matter, Sarif, for now, just needs to get Adam to drink and forget about what he’s seeing. He dips his fingers in the blood, giving them a lick, and they taste like warm cinnamon apple cyder. The dying man’s last drink, how appropriate with the holidays coming up. He’ll has to get Adam some cider mixed with the perfect winter blood. Turn it into a delicious milkshake of screaming souls! But Adam must watch his consumption, vampire or not, his filter he relies on is gone. No longer can he eat and drink through the careless ways he uses due to having no consequences. Hopefully the limitless package comes into play again very soon when the man is among the living again. The new arms are built for it. For now, he goes over to Adam who has fallen over into a semi-cationic state from the smell of the delicious offering. He lifts him up, dips his fingers into the blood again, hisses at the sight of such tainted goodness from the devil himself, and places his fingers into Adam’s mouth. Adam’s eyes flutter open, tastes the blood on the foreign fingers. His eyes widen, he bites Sarif’s fingers.

“That’s uncalled for, son.” Sarif grabs Adam’s head and forces it down into the blood, thinks he heard a crunch from Adam’s nose. No worries, it’ll heal back in a bit.

Kubrick's teeth show and he snarls at Sarif, ready to pounce on him to defend his owner! Sarif looks over to the mutt. Without warning the dog grabs onto Sarif’s arm, he ends up releasing Adam, who is starting to come to his senses when more blood makes its way on his tongue. He looks over to the side to see Sarif is about to pound the dog to the ground with a single punch from his fist. He quickly gets up, the converter kicking in now that it had its fill of adrenalin, and tackles Sarif to the ground, away from Kubrick. Kubrick backs away some, still growling at Sarif for hurting his dad.

“I give.” Sarif pulls his weight from under Adam, surprised by how fast a simple gulp of blood made his body kick into full effect. Perfect. Here Sarif thought Adam’s new filter would need adjustment and time. He’s glad it doesn’t as he had no patience for teaching a toddler how to walk and drink by itself. The filter still needs to be field tested. He needs to get Adam to eat a simple piece of bread or at least-Sarif looks over at Kubrick whose saliva is dripping to the ground from snarling too much. He could just kill the dog right now, and deal with the after emotions from Adam later. He goes after the dog again, like lightning Adam is already in front of Kubrick, grabbing the older man by the shirt and slamming him up against the wall. No one is going to touch his dog! Dead or alive! He will send them back to the grave where they belong. Then they can feel the feebleness of their own lost war by the hands of suffocating dirt and mythical snakes.

Adam goes for the neck. “Stay away from Kubrick. I’ll do what you ask, but if you touch my dog then so the devil help you, that I’ll make sure you’re buried six feet under hurting with dirt stuck in your eyes for all eternity!”

Sarif holds up his hands. “Deal. Put me down now. I want to run a sample on you.” He’s placed down, doesn’t have much of a choice.

“What is it, Sarif?” Adam wipes his mouth. The blood is grossly sticking to his skin. The boil like pops are gone, no scars have remained, his nose has healed back into position. Nothing else seems to be out of place, and he feels lighter. Much lighter than he’s ever felt in his entire life. He tests this theory with his legs, he’s on the other side of the room faster than his Icarus Dash is by one second. No aug rejection and no need to learn how to reuse his limbs. Everything is coming naturally. He checks out his side to see the staples that he couldn’t fully remove have come loose. He pulls at them, dropping them to the ground, and he doesn’t feel hurt or pain. The skin where they were left indents are starting to heal. How peculiar that vampire’s healing abilities are this quick. Can’t be said the same for his aug's, but how does this even work with the blood?

“Your augments have a limitless, top of the line, Page converter that relies on blood. Rather it be the blood in your body or the blood of the humans you drink from.” Sarif looks to see if Adam is still following him, it’s hard to tell behind those shades he just put back in place, he continues anyways. “The new filter you have in your body sends the blood directly to where it needs to go. Always pumping, never stopping from what I can see, but it does rest when you’re not using an expended amount of energy.”

Doesn’t explain why Sarif can eat and drink without repercussions and Adam can’t. “That’s great Sarif. Guess all I need to know is if I can chew up bones, or must I spit them out at your feet?”

“No. You will never be able to behave like a normal person ever again, because of your personalized genetics of showing no aug rejection. It’s complicated to explain. Just Get used to it. Just have a bit of whiskey every now and then with blood, and I promise there will be no after effects of vomiting or mechanical shut down. Your body might be immortal, but the non-organic parts are not.” Sarif smirks proudly. Finally happy with something he’s done with another person, other than slicing and dicing them to itty bitty pieces. He goes over to the dead body that had exploded, leans down, and sniffs the blood.  Stale, bitter, and the order is long past good for consumption. What a disappointment. He can’t even freeze this to eat for later. He looks up at Adam, giving him a look that says he’s wasted perfectly good meat.

Adam doesn’t care. He exits the bathroom with his dog in toe. He’s not going to spend another minute in this hellish place filled with death and blood ecstasy. He sits down in a chair right across from Sarif’s bed. He rubs his dog’s head, Kubrick gives a whimper at the soft petting. Adam gives him a pity look and smiles, reassuring to Kubrick that nothing bad is going to happen to himself or him. Kubrick is concerned with Adam. He doesn’t like the other man, he’s evil to him, and gives off a bad aura and animal abuse vibration that causes a snake to come when something bad is going to happen. Kubrick can see the snake when it appears in the house when no one else is really paying attention. Sometimes it talks to him at his mom’s house or when he first landed here. He didn’t understand what the snake wanted. Even now, the snake is curled up by his side, sticking its tongue in and out.

_Hello, Kubrick, be a good boy to Adam, will you? He’s much more important to you than to anyone else that stands before you. The hateful man will not be able to separate you from him. I will make sure that never happens. You’ll be immortalized forever. Stuck in the church you’ll be damned to forever, buy by your human father’s side. Does that sound great? It’s a bargain you can’t just pass up. I’ll even make it look like Sarif is the one who hurt you._

The snake’s fangs are unfastened, growing, a strange blood color is dripping from them, ready to sink its teeth into the dog. Kubrick’s tale is wagging in anticipation of this creature’s announcement. Be stuck with his dad forever and ever? Never till death due they part? He doesn’t know what he’ll become. Anything, anything that won’t pull him away from Adam. He likes this deal! He barks a happy bark with his tongue hanging out. Adam looks down and wonders what Kubrick has tipping off the scale of the good life. Just a minute ago the dog nearly bit Sarif in his knee. He goes down to pet Kubrick’s fur, feeling blood on his fingers. He pulls them back, it’s not his blood but his dog’s blood. He furiously checks the fur to see two bite marks created by a vampire. Sarif said he wouldn’t touch the dog. Why did he lie to him? He must have done this when he brought Kubrick here from his old house and made up a false promise to get him to behave. He’s going to pay.

Sarif comes in with bloody towels. “Getting that blood up will not be fun. I am going to call Page and have him send a cleanup team here full time, and make sure they’re vampires! I don’t need to keep eating the humans that taste like bleach.”

“How could you!” Adam is out of his seat and at Sarif’s throat again. “You hurt my dog! You BIT my dog! Now he’s going to turn into one of us!”

Sarif looks down at Kubrick to see the blood coming off his neck. The border collie is panting, looking like it’s thirsty, and trying to regain his breath. “I didn’t do it. The blood is fresh. There’s no possible way I could get from here to there without you noticing! This must be the work of our creator! I told you, that beast has no boundaries and will do anything to make our lives miserable in his own way because he can!”

Adam knew the logic Sarif is babbling out makes sense, sort of. He doesn’t understand the whole religious side of it, and the transformation in Kubrick is impressively quick. Vampire blood in animals seems to work quicker than the ones in humans, and that means Kubrick needs blood to drink instead of water. He lets sarif go. He goes over to the empty glass on the table, grabs it, and goes back to the bathroom to get some blood out of a wound on the body that is slowly draining out into the river grate. He fills it up, brings it back to Kubrick, and puts it under the dog’s nose. Kubrick looks at it, sniffs it, and laps up the blood, loving the taste. He finishes it in a hurry, licks his chompers, and barks for more. Adam doesn’t want to comply, mostly because he doesn’t want to believe that Kubrick now has a thirst for blood, and whenever he is hungry…

Sarif picks up the cup off the floor. “I’ll bring Kubrick to the bathroom. Stay here and look over your systems. I need you to eat that piece of bread on the table that the maid brought in while you were drinking.”

Adam glares in defiance. Didn’t Sarif just say that eating food will put him in agonizing pain? He doesn’t want to do this for the sake of science either. “You don’t need me for a guinea pig.”

“Yes, I do. I promised Page that I would test and provide all the results to him. You’re the first genetically augmented vampire, and we must make sure you’re at 100% power.” Sarif points down to Kubrick who is sniffing at the blood seeping out of the bathroom. “Or I’ll make your dog eat the piece of bread instead.”

The door closes. Adam is looking down at the plate of white bread, a lump in his throat forms, and his head is starting to spin. Looking at it makes himself want to vomit. He hears the echo of laughter in the back of his head, just knows that Sarif is going to get a sick kick out of this. Steadily he picks up the piece of bread in between his fingers, the texture is not helping his stomach. Closing his eyes he places the piece of bread in his mouth, instantly breathing hard and wanting to spit it back out. He pinches his nose and forces himself to swallow the horrid stench. The insides didn’t agree with him, he immediately throws up the pieces, along with the blood left in him from earlier and stomach acid. He covers his mouth and tries to calm down. This is not what he pictured on doing when partaking in this little experiment. Standing up, he wobbly goes to the mini fridge, pulling out a bottle of water, the bile starts to rise again. He throws the water bottle down knowing he can’t drink that either. He goes over to the bathroom door and bangs on it.

Sarif opens the door roughly, letting an overactive border collie come out first and jump on top of the sickly Adam. Kubrick starts licking his face, Adam pushes him off, and notices the blood around the dog’s mouth. He’s disgusted. He gently pushes the dog away from him. He doesn’t want to look at him. Sarif did, what Sarif did. Adam’s angry, he balls his fist up and aims for the jaw. One sharp jab, that’s all he’s asking for. He doesn’t get what he wants. Sarif blocks the punch, and in return he smacks Adam across the face, sending him to the ground next to Kubrick. Kubrick’s ears perk up, he starts growling, standing in front of his dad, bloody teeth barred. He’s ready to kill Sarif, eyes are turning more vampiric with every passing second, fur is becoming up tight, and his ears are bending just a little further back.

Sarif places his hands behind his back, no longer putting them forward like he did before with the leader of that cult. “Enough, Kubrick or the next drink you get will be the blood from your dead human mother.”

Kubrick hears “mother” in a cold voice and stops growling. His mother? Megan’s here? His eyes return to their natural color, tail starts wagging, and his bloody tongue is hanging out. He misses his mom. She hasn’t returned home yet, and she promised him walkies today! Kubrick lets out a bark and starts to move his legs in place. He wants Sarif to take him to his mom! The anticipation is killing him! He can tell when his nails are clacking all over the floor!

Sarif looks on in amusement. “Oh yes, Megan is all cooped up in my storage area all nice and fresh. Ready to take you for a walk.” He’s ready to pack Kubrick up in storage container that will sit perfectly right next to Megan’s.

Adam sits up, groaning. “Don’t you dare, Sarif. He’s only protecting me, and you know that.” Adam places a hand on Kubrick’s back, giving the dog much needed scratches.

Sarif shrugs. “I am not really going to take him to be iced up. Not yet anyways. Just don’t have that mutt anywhere near me right now, and he’ll be ok. In fact, when you go get locked up in the church, he’ll be there with you, like a personal undead guard dog!”

Church? Sarif mentioned something about a church yesterday like it’s going to be prison just for him. Won’t he die? In vampire folklore Adam remembers if any unholy apparition sets foot inside the house of God they will die a very painful death. As an atonement to their damned souls. Adam feels a lump grow in his throat for the third time today. He feels he can hear the tail of a snake rattle in his ear, but nothing is there, but he still hears it. The tail sounds delighted and hungry. This thing plans to feed on Adam’s soul, and the situation feels like Sarif is offering him up as the sacrificial lamb for the devil’s banquet. Adam stands up very slowly, he’s feeling sore after this whole ordeal. He makes his way to Sarif’s bed, Kubrick joins him. Sarif gets a bit annoyed thinking about all the bloody paw prints the dog is tracking. He’ll get a human worker this time to clean up, he wants a fresh kill anyways.

Adam wraps his arm around Kubrick. “Why am I being placed in this church?”

“To study you, of course! Don’t worry there will be a perimeter protected by scientifically molded holy water.” Sarif waves his hand off at that. “Page doesn’t believe in such Jesus juice, so he took some of his own blood, mixed it in, and see what it could do.”

Adam doesn’t understand how vampire blood and blessed water would mix well together. It sounds ridiculous, until Sarif explained the next part. “I gave Page your DNA as the bonus. You should’ve seen the results! It made the water so strong it melted through the top floor of _Versalife_ and all the way to the bottom floor! Do you know how many floors the company in San Francisco has!?”

“I don’t see how this affects me or the water.” Sounds more like a cancellation affect if he had to put it together. Genetically modified blood, pure water, and damned vampire blood would make for a cocktail of divine destruction or an orchestrated chaos.

“That’s the point! It kills everything that crosses or the barrier! You won’t even have to hunt for your own food! You’ll just have to patrol the barrier and get your snack!” Sarif rubs his hands in delight. He hears a whine from the dog. “Now, Kubrick on the other hand, you might have to share with, because I doubt there will be enough pigeons and crows to go around.”

“Don’t they just fly?” Adam looks over to Kubrick. He seems to be unease about something. Adam pets his head in reassurance, he won’t starve. Not on his watch.

“Flying, stepping, back stroking…it doesn’t matter! The toxins around it will do its job, and it won’t affect you in anyway, because it has your blood in it.” Sarif lets out a great deep breath. “This is way better than what Page forced his team to come up with to control the human populace. Why release a toxin with a vaccine when force the toxin out to the general public and have a well-regulated food supply that will bow down before us? They’ll even help open up an agriculture branch that deals with human farming in the government!”

“I thought you wanted to help people.” Adam clenches his fist at Sarif’s declaration. What a hypocrite he turned into.

“I do want to help people! In my own way, Adam.” Sarif places a hand over his heart. He has a sincere look in his eye that doesn’t contradict what Adam had originally thought. Not an Anti-Hero here, straight full villain who will clean up the ocean that’s filled with plastic and at the same time take apart families to get the richest blood on the market.

Adam gets back up, Kubrick jumps down. He turns to look at Sarif. “I need some fresh air. I need to contemplate what I just learned…” And to have some time to grieve. He knows his situation sucks but lashing out now without any plan or idea of what to even think about all of this will only get him killed, and his dog eaten. No time to be a martyr, only a sheep, so he can look back upon this; and remember what Sarif has done; and what he’s going to do to him.

Sarif makes a shrugging motion with his hands and shoulders. Adam notices he does this a lot when he really doesn’t care. “Of course but first clean yourself up.” He leads him to the back yard when Adam is clean again and wrapped in something warmer, Sarif is unsure how the cold air will affect Adam. At least the backyard is spacious and filled with different trees, plants, and a swing to watch the wildlife. Kind of a place of relaxation to forget about the hell around them. Adam still can’t help but wonder if Sarif is growing butterflies and spiders for their own delicacy of weird sorts.

Sarif leaves Adam without a word. Adam is fine with that. He sits down on the swing and stares at the night sky. It’s late, probably almost 3 AM. The owls are hooting about, crickets are chirping, and frogs are croaking in the puddles of water. Kubrick is by the puddles having a sniff. He’s curious what the backyard has to offer him. Adam watches with a bit of a content posture, elbow on the edge with his chin in his hand, not even paying attention to Sarif who has come back out with two mugs filled with an ugly murky color of hot chocolate.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t use any of your friends’ blood. Just some sweet delicious cute brunette girl that came by the office to apply for an intern position the other day. College kids don’t know how lucky they have it these days.” He sits down next to Adam. He sees that he’s not taking a sip of his drink at all. “Would you have preferred the hot blonde guy that cleans my bathroom? He does a damn good job, but he looks so damn juicy!”

Adam dumps out the cup, feeling sorry for the poor grass, then the feeling happens on his knee. He turns to see Sarif has placed his golden hand on it. “Remove your hand or lose it.”

Sarif removes his hand and distances himself. “I just want to comfort you! Your body has gone through a whole ordeal, and it only took you under a few hours to recover! Your genetics really work well here!”  

“I doubt my genetics play into this.” He doesn’t believe it. The whole concept is stupid and feels like this is just one big placebo, like the hot chocolate is safe. He’ll just throw it up, and Sarif will have more samples to send back to Page. He’s irritated thinking about it. He watches Kubrick go over to the fence and sniffs and backs away in pain. Adam quickly goes over to Kubrick, seeing the dog rub his nose in the grass. It has a slight burn on it.

“I marked the fence with the cocktail. Prevents any unwanted vampire hunters and rogues getting in.” Sarif stands by Adam. “See how well it works? Your lucky Kubrick didn’t pass it fully and just tapped it.”

“Kubrick could’ve died!” Adam gets up in Sarif’s face, placing a finger on the older man’s chest. He’s not backing down from this without a fight, not this time.

Yes, Kubrick should’ve died. Sarif doesn’t understand why not. He just made that story up to Adam, because he knew he would forget about the “can’t even touch the barrier” bit. Even the wound has quickly healed. Hm, maybe taking the blood samples from the dog would be better. His thoughts are interrupted with Adam gives him a pat on the cheek to pull him from his day dream. Glaring at the younger man, Sarif grabs Adam’s hands and gives them a soft squeeze. Adam tries to pull away, the hand holding it grows tighter to the point where his entire hand will need more surgery if the coils don’t stop meshing together. Adam manages to make his hand limp. Sarif returns his own hand back to a gentler grip, brings it to his lips to give it a kiss. Adam uses his free hand to hit him in the head.

Sarif pulls away, rubbing his head. “Why did you do that? I am trying to show you affection!”

“I am not sleeping with you! No one in their lifetime will sleep with you!” Adam pushes Sarif away from him. “Don’t touch me again. I do not have sex with people who kill my friends, makes me drink their blood, and turns their dog into a monster.”

Sarif looks at Kubrick then back at Adam. “You have a companion for life, Adam! Be thankful for the gift the devil gave you! You’ll get lonely in the church if you didn’t have one! I’ll even come in and help you settle in!”

“I never asked for my dog to suffer the same fate as I have!” Fangs are bared again. He’s angry. They both can see that.

Sarif backs off with his arms crossed. “Fine. I’ll start feeling bad for the dog on my own terms, but remember, Adam, if you don’t cooperate and do what I say or touch willingly then you won’t like the terms of punishment I have set up.”

“Threats don’t work on me, Sarif.” Adam brings out one of his arm blades.

“I know where your parents live, and I can easily force you to watch me drink their blood, give them a few pats, and then kill them in the worse blood sucking way you can’t even fathom.” Sarif comes around behind Adam and wraps his arms around him, like he did in the bathroom, lips coming close to his ear. “Who should I go after next? The nice lady who has Alzheimer’s? You visited her once. You gave her photos of yourself when you found out about her. You think I can be a very sexy and convincing meal delivery guy too?”

Adam sighs. He’s tired of this song and dance. He doesn’t want him going after anyone he has touched base with. “Give me the fucking mug.” He snatches it out of Sarif’s hands and wolfs it down, an instant bliss is on his face. He nearly falls to his knees. Sarif is there to catch him before he does.

“Can move around like a toddler who's taking their first steps by acting like they’ve been walking their whole life, but you sure can’t handle the smallest amount of blood right away.” He brings Adam to the bench, holding onto him there while he gets down from his high. Wiping the blood dripping down his chin in the process.

“You…you won’t get…away…away…” Adam feels drowsy. Ready to sleep. Kubrick lays by his feet, worried for his dad, the usual.

“I’m sure I won’t get away with anything.” Sarif lets him sleep against him for the remainder of the night. The cold doesn’t bother them at all.


	3. Cathedral of Scars - Part 3 - David Sarif/Adam Jensen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam's dreams are trap in the realm between life and the afterlife. He can't escape this when he's sleeping. He's suffering, and the people he meets as they transition over are suffering too. This is not how he pictures the lives of the people he loves ending.

Artwork done by the amazing [soothsayerc](http://soothsayerc.tumblr.com/post/181036833570/collaboration-for-cathedral-of-scars-by)!

He’s back here again. Under the purple starry sky, staring up at Saturn. The planet looks like it’s going to touch down on this earthly plane any minute now. The rocks and gas making up the rings are tilting further on their side, giving off a twinkly glow to anyone who decides to look up. Adam wonders if this is his atonement for staring up at the night sky with his telescope all those nights in recovery. Looking at the stars and all their beautiful sparkle glory. It makes him feel better, but he couldn’t help but wonder why he’s here if he’s supposedly sleeping.

Megan stands beside Adam, hands behind her back, staring up at the planets in unison. “Your soul is trying to tell you that your body it wants to be here with your friends.”

Adam turns to Megan. Still the same person and in that casual work dress he last saw her in, mother’s bracelet is shining brightly against the strange light. A feeling of dread comes over him. Seeing her dismembered arm with that same bracelet just hours ago, the one she cherishes the most out of her material possessions. He watches her clutch onto in a tight embrace, almost as if it’s going to disappear in any given moment. Her face falters, causing her to look down at the ground, eyes abrupt with sadness and worry. Adam can tell what she’s thinking. She’s always worried about her family when she’s away on business or away on vacation. Being here makes no difference to her. She feels like this is a temporarily business leave till her mother passes and joins her.  

Adam places a comforting hand on Megan’s shoulder. A strange warming tingle shoots down his spine. He doesn’t know how to describe this. Megan’s soul feels like it’s trying to heal him in some way. Adam doesn’t want to pull away from it. If he could stand here for a little longer without having to go back to Sarif, he would. He fears going back to that man, to his tendencies of hurting people because of how sexualized their blood looks by the sequence of their skin and hair. He furrowed his eyebrows and looks down at his own boots. The feeling of needing to do something washes over him, that hero complex of his is starting to be a nuisance. He removes his hand from Megan’s shoulder and turns around, starts his walk back to where the bar is. He didn’t get a good look at it last time.

Megan follows suit, reaching her hand out to him. Touching his back and leaning her forehead against his coat. “Please check on my mother.” She regrets not giving her a final good-bye, even though she knows her death approaches her for every minute she walks in inside that horrifying building that Sarif now claims as his feeding and territorial grounds.

Adam understands. “I will.” But he still needs to figure out how to get out of this place. He continues his walk, taking in the surroundings to study them later, already forgetting about the bar. Mildew is covering long palm bush like plants. Not the kind one would see in the living world, no, one that’s ashy looking raindrops. Each one falling off the tip to the burned looking bark on the ground. All leaving a starry reflection, and singling that morning is soon to come. Adam wonders how the night sky can produce a sunlight, the sun doesn’t seem to be around. The horizon has a little bit of an orange reflection, giving it the ray ban feel of light.

“I am sorry for everything, Adam. For taking your blood that day. For putting you through all this.” Megan sits down on the ground, not caring she’s running her outfit, with her head in her hands. Eyes are closed, and tears are stinging at the corners. She really blames herself for this. It’s not her fault that Sarif used them all, and in the end, killed everyone to get the end game he wanted.

Adam sits down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and letting her cry against him. Things are better this way. The afterlife world no longer appears around them, it’s just these two around a white canvas. This is their alone time that they need. Just here in each other’s arms, keeping their eyes closed. Listening to the nothingness. It’s peaceful. Nothing can hurt them here, and no one can see them. If they could stay life this forever, they would, but the colorful canvas needs to eventually come back. Adam can stay here till he wakes up, but Megan’s soul won’t allow anything beyond that. Her soul is tugging her jacket, pulling her away from Adam. Adam reaches out to her, follows her back to the bar. Other people are here, talking about they’re going to hop on one of the other planets to visit some celebrities. Maybe get their flashy autograph and a photo.

One of the guys drinking a milkshake gives a snort. “I want to go to Pluto! I hear that’s where all the bad souls go for rehabilitation!”

That’s right, out of all the planets Adam has seen, Pluto is not one of them. Adam looks back up at the sky, more planets he’s sure that are not part of the solar system he knows of appear. There are dozens of them, all shapes and sizes. Colors, rings, storms, rainbows, galactic hurricanes, funny looking clouds, and all kinds of sparkling wonders are moving at a slow pace above them. Then the sky starts to get dark, terrain is forming above them. Trees, plants, a sun, rivers, oceans, birds, giraffes, and a never-ending stretch of land is floating on past them. A waterfall is right above him, toppling over the side, but not hitting him. The water disappears before it even attempts to reach the ground below. How strange.

Megan rubs her eyes. “Feels like we’re in a Fantasy book, doesn’t it?” She reaches out upwards, hoping to catch a bit of water, nothing touches her fingers. She brings her hand down and stares at it. Feeling numbness creep inside of her. She wonders if the floating land of the dead animals and bugs even know they’re down here. Is Kubrick up there chasing after anything that starts to run with that tail of his wagging with happiness? She wishes to know. The ones that can’t understand humans are having a carefree life of eternal tail chasing and puddle splashing. She smiles at the envy of it all.

The endless land disappears from their sight, going somewhere else that probably fits their needs. However, all the planets and strange marvels stay above them. Megan and Adam can see a set of shooting stars. This gives them a sense of calm, something they long needed. This feels good and wholesome. The stars start to blink rapidly in some places, Adam takes notice of this. Why are they doing that? Are they going to fall and die? No, they’re moving to the left, looking like they’re going to make orbit on one of the planets. How peculiar. This must be how everyone gets around. Take a shuttle from one planet to go visit people on another. Adam’s curiosity bug is kicking in. He wants to try this. See his real parents, talk to them, and ask them questions. Find the people who manage the shuttles and ask them how he can see certain souls. Maybe he can find other relatives here that he doesn’t know about.

As if reading Adam’s facial expression by the way his eyebrows are arched, Megan decides to say something to burst his bubble, so that his hopes are not on the high priority list. “Adam, you really can’t stay here. The sun is rising for you. This means you’re going to be forced out of here and back to the land of the living.”

He doesn’t want to go back, but she’s right. He’ll be back in the void between life and death. Where souls, he assumes, are floating about till daylight in his time zone approaches. He has yet to meet anyone else in this dream state. He can hear the guy mumbling in the background about the floating animal heaven. Saying something about a little wooden house with smoke coming out of the chimney being cozy and home to a carpenter that is always making things and bringing them down to the planets. Sounds nice. Adam thinks if he gets to ever meet this guy that they should exchange crafting tips. Build something for one another, that is if the building materials are here. He’s pretty sure they will be. It’s Heaven for humanity Anything goes, right?

The mumbling turns into a slight ring, Megan is no longer by his side, nobody is. It’s just him in this white void again, and he’s disappointed that he didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her. He looks around, there’s a faint silhouette he sees in the distance, first soul he’s ever seen here. He runs after it, drawing closer to the kneeling figure. She looks familiar. Short graying hair, long sleeve brown looking dress shirt, blood is soaking through it, at least it starts too. The blood slowly disappears, and the woman uncovers her face. She looks at Adam with dread and shock. Adam couldn’t believe who is sitting here! The person is Cassandra! Cassandra Reed! Megan’s mother! Why is she here? She has something in between her fingers. The bracelet. How is she holding this?

Adam leans down next to her. “Cassandra, what happened? Why are you here?” He watches her fiddle with the item before slipping it on the opposite wrist compared to Megan’s.

“Sarif invited me over to help him set up a surprise party for Megan before I went back to California for my job. I couldn’t say no.” She places a hand on her wrist, thinking back to that very moment where Sarif came up behind her as a friendly gesture, placing his hand on her back, and telling her about how wonderful Megan’s research is. Not even concluding that the taunting voice is bad. She thought this is just Sarif being his usual “help the human evolution” quip.

Adam wants to ask more questions but doesn’t get the chance too. Cassandra’s soul is starting to fade out from this canvas to go where she needs to be at, with her daughter. She gives him a sad smile and a soft wave. The bracelet falls off her wrist when she disappears. Adam picks it up. Looking over it in between his fingers, nearly dropping it when he hears a voice behind him.

“Adam! Adam Jensen! The precious little boy that I would draw in coloring books with!?” No, this can’t be. Adam turns, there she is, the person who rescued him from the fire, Michelle Walthers. Dementia no longer plaguing her memories. She’s smiling, talking, and telling Adam about all the fun times they had together. Bringing up how such a fine man he turned out to be, and how brave of him for going through all that P.E.N.T House nonsense. Adam is unsure how she found out about that. Him being with the Interpol North American division is top secret, and he only did one job for them when they found out what he is equipped with for a job they needed done.

“I feel honored that you took my last name, Adam! But please be careful and never do something dangerous as that again. Your parents didn’t start the fire for you to go get yourself mugged by a bunch of thugs.” Michelle throws her walking stick aside, stands up straight, and gives Adam a shoulder rub. Encouraging him to get out of this purgatory place for the souls who are unsure what their bodies temporarily want with kind smiles and a cheering voice. He’ll do his best. He doesn’t promise her anything, unsure if it’s himself or her he’s trying to convince.

“Oh! I hope my husband is ok. I don’t see him around.” Michelle looks around, blindly searching invisible walls, hoping to feel for something. Adam wants to help, but he just doesn’t know how to explain strange magical science. This place is endless and seems most of it is either in his mind or this place really is a conjure. Luckily, no one can truly ever be trapped here.

Hiss. There is the sound everybody has been waiting for. Michelle is unable to hear it, but Adam can hear the loudness in his ear just fine. His eyes move to his left shoulder, he sees the constrictor’s tongue, sticking in and out, smelling the death of the old woman. Adam keeps the snake at bay, grabs it by its throat, squeezing it. A smile and fangs are publicly displayed on the face. Waiting for Michelle to turn around and come towards him. Adam doesn’t let that happen. He turns around, back facing away from the woman. He closes his eyes and wishes for Michelle to get away from this place. She doesn’t need to see the demon wrapped around his body with its head resting comfortably on the shoulder. Whispers of blaming and laughter are coming out in lies.

Adam ignores everything the devil is saying. “Michelle, how did you find out about my one-time deal with Interpol?”

Michelle stops feeling for life and goes to turn around to look at Adam till he tells her not to look behind her. She complies, hearing that hint of demand when a loved one is afraid for your safety. She stares at the endless horizon, thinking about what Adam has said. She words her thoughts carefully, telling him that a man from a company came by with her dinner meal, talking about how a man that used to work for him would send him on missions to some of the most aug infested dangerous places on the planet, and so did an agency for one of those missions. Then goes on about getting her meal ready, and pouring some cranberry sauce on her turkey, saying that it’s in the Thanksgiving spirit. She grew scared and couldn’t call the police, because she didn’t want to die. The words were jumbled in her head, she kept forgetting what the man looked like, and all she had left to remember is the photograph of Adam. She died holding his photograph.

Adam feels a sense of death wash over him again. He takes the snake by the neck again and throws it in the far-off distance, watching it disappear in the air. It doesn’t appear on his shoulder again. He’s thankful for this. He goes over to Michelle. “Michelle, I am sorry for what that man did to you. He will pay, and where you’re going, you’ll never see or hear from him again.”

“Adam, it’s ok. Don’t turn yourself into something you’re not. I know that’s the typical thing anyone would say to their loved ones, but you’re still that sweet little boy that I would get extra pudding cups for. I like to keep the memory that way.” Michelle touches his cheek, gently stroking the scars. She feels sad for him. The pain he must be feeling, the regret he’s going through. She wishes to stay with him, but she can’t. Her soul is being tugged on, much like Megan’s. She starts to cry, reaching out towards him with her hand, he goes to grab it. She is gone by the time he catches it. A photograph is in her place. Adam picks it up. The same photograph she gave him, the smiling boy in that yellow shirt asking for those pudding cups. Hopefully the bar where she’s going to has them, so they can share one later.

_You’re not awake. I am surprised you’re sleeping this long. Maybe the cold finally went to your head? You’ll get brain freeze from sleeping on that swing all night, and I don’t mean the good ice cream kind._

Adam closes his eyes; the devil is back with its tight grip. Lucifer is slithering around him in a circle, slowly transforming to a young man in a black and white suit, hair greased to the side like a comb over and clean-shaven face, not the man that told him his time is not yet up. No, that one looked like a well-groomed man from the 1800’s. This one is more modern. He has his hands placed on Adam’s shoulders, mouth to his ear, nipping at the lobe. Hands moving under Adam’s coat, rubbing against his ribs. Adam’s eyes open, he moves away from the human impersonator. He turns around to see that he’s not there. Two people have taken his place, one’s a man with a guilt-stricken face holding a hat over his face and the other is a woman who looks confused to where she’s at. Adam knows who both are, they are his adoptive parents, no, the parents he considers as the real ones are here, and they’ve just died.  

Disbelief is the understatement of the year here. How many more people is Sarif going to go after for simply having a minor or parental acquaintance with him? This isn’t right, this shouldn’t be happening. Adam squeezes his hand into a tight fist, ignoring the whites and pain of his knuckles. He’ll sort it out later when he wakes up. He approaches his father first, removing the hat from his face. The tears are all dried up, and the man known as Arthur Jensen profusely keeps apologizing for not telling him sooner about the fire. The rest of the words came out in a scrambled mess that Adam couldn’t pick up any of them. He gives his father a hug, saying everything is going to be ok; and that he’s not mad. Adam’s father did his best to raise him and give him the education and shelter he needed while living under their household. He appreciates it. He turns to his mother to see what comfort he can provide, a whole different story with her.

Margie Jensen, Adam’s adoptive mother, has her hands folded over her lap. She is staring at them with much worry. Adam approaches her, takes one into his augmented hand. She looks at it, feeling the guilt rise from not being able to be there for him when he went through the horrible period of recovering from that attack on the industry. She wants to talk about something happy, to make up for this bad judgement. Adam runs a finger over her hand, and lets her retell the story one of their adventures for her comfort.

_Middle of Spring at Adam’s high school, he’s in the middle of taking an exam, concentrating on the social parts of his government and economics test. He doesn’t like this class, but it’s part of his curriculum to get into the college he desires. He taps the side of his head with his pencil, thinking about the bonus question at the end of the second section. When he thinks he has something down the speaker in the classroom comes on and orders Adam to the principal’s office. He complies. The bonus question and the second part of the test may not be worth it, he’s always been a B+ student anyways. He’ll make for it later with extra credit, his teacher likes him enough to allow it._

_He hands the unfinished test to the teacher and exits the classroom. He makes it to the administrative area to see his mom outside the door, hands are shaking, and her hair is all over the place. He goes over to her to find out what’s wrong. She doesn’t say anything; her eyes are sunken in from the crying. Adam knew immediately what had happened, she lost her job, again. Something she couldn’t afford to do, and his dad doesn’t know yet by the looks of it. If he did then she wouldn’t be allowed to pull him out of class._

_“What excuse did you tell them this time, mom?” Adam doesn’t regret the question, and she doesn’t even give him an answer. He’s grown use to this song and dance by now. He crosses his arms and gets in the car, staring out the window at the cloudy sky. Looks like it’s going to rain soon. Good enough for him not to walk home. He didn’t live too far from the school, but he doesn’t have a permit. He would need that one first anyways if he wanted to drive next year._

_Margie pulls the car up in front of the driver’s bureau. “You said you wanted your learners this year instead of next, so here we are! Get on out and take that test! I know you can do it!”_

_They didn’t have an appointment. How is Adam going to take the test? He gets out and goes to the front receptionist with his mother clinging onto him, she’s afraid someone is going to jump at her or tell her husband about this. Adam shakes his head. He knows about her mental illness of depression and maybe a bit of paranoia. He knows it’s hard for her and does his best to cope with such things. He must be strong for his mother and father. They both need it for their own sanity._

_The front lady gives Adam a sad smile and tells him they’re booked for the day, and if his mother would like to schedule an appointment for next week. Margie’s eyes widen. This needs to be done today! She starts to shake, Adam excuses himself from the lady and gives his mother a hug as he leads her outside. They don’t need to make a scene here with the bystander cop looking at them. He explains the situation to the officer when he asks if everything is alright. He understood and told Adam to holler at him if she needs an ambulance._

_Margie and Adam get back into the car, she starts driving them away after she settles down. They didn’t need to get into an accident. They end up in front of an ice cream parlor, a place Adam used to go to with his mom. He really enjoyed coming here. He gets out of the car and helps his mother out. She looks down; her medication isn’t kicking in like it should be when Adam recognizes that downcast look. Adam will have to let his dad know. The doctors may need to give her something stronger, but not strong enough to raise her blood pressure and give her a heartbeat that will try to beat out of her chest. One of the worst feelings Margie had to deal with. Her skin felt like a fire burning to the outer layers, and her chest wouldn’t stop beating hard, not fast, but a constant slow rhythm of hard pounding._

_Margie orders first. “Pistachio in a regular cone please, one scoop, no toppings, with a medium cup of iced sweet tea.”_

_Adam orders next. “Chocolate in a small cup, not toppings, and a bottle of water.”_

_They both sit down, eating their dessert in silence. Margie trying to fight down the depression that wants to spill out of her mouth and onto Adam, and Adam is trying to fight down the guilt of enjoying this tasty treat knowing that his mom is only doing this to make herself feel like she’s not a complete failure. Adam stops eating when his mom does, she’s staring at her melting ice cream. Ignoring the drips falling off her spoon and onto the table, making a mess that the workers will have to clean up later. Adam gets up and gets extra napkins by the soda machine. He comes back and wipes up the mess she has made, gently taking the plastic spoon out of her hand, while she’s still staring at her food. Adam sits back down, sighing. He doesn’t feel like eating his own ice cream anymore. He pushes it to the side. He’ll clean up his own spot later._

_After a while, the awkward silence doesn’t help the situation any. Adam pulls out his flip phone, tempting to call his dad, and tell him to leave work early, to come have melted ice cream with them. It’ll make the motion of Margie telling him she lost her job a little easier. Hopefully nothing is thrown in public. They don’t need to make another scene where the cops will have to come into play. Debating after that thought he puts the phone away. He’ll wait till his dad comes home to break the bad news. He doesn’t need the stress right now._

_Margie sips her sweet tea. “I am thinking about going to the zoo. The place is still open, Adam. I know you used to love looking at the sting rays swim in their pool.”_

_“Mom, we can’t afford to go, because of you losing your job.” Adam feels bad for saying this, but they will need the left-over money. The cable and electric bill are due next week, and dad hasn’t written out the check yet; because they’re waiting on Margie’s check to hit the bank in two weeks. Now that she has no job, the short check will only be able to pay for one, and hopefully that’s the electric bill. They can live without TV. Arthur is planning on canceling the cable anyways._

_“I know.” She grips her cup tightly, the lid popping off and the contents spill over. Adam quickly gets up to clean up the ice that’s all over his mother’s lap. One of the worker’s come over asking if we needed any help, noticing the distraught earlier. Adam tells them they didn’t. He picks up the ice off the floor after he finishes cleaning off his mother. He even asks for one of the workers for a mop instead of using the paper towels. They tell him they’ll clean it up themselves when they leave. Adam didn’t argue._

_Margie quickly left the scene in the middle of Adam throwing away the paper towels. She goes over to the car, stretched her arms over the top, and started crying on the car. Adam comes out after he threw their trash away. He runs over to his mom and asks her what’s wrong. She goes on that she’s a complete failure, and starts to get angry at herself, blaming herself that she can’t hold a job; because of her temper and who she is. Adam doesn’t point out the facts about it as this is not the place or a good time. Never will be a good time, because of his mom’s mental illness that she can’t help. What she needs now is for her family to be there for her and help her through it. Something Adam can do well. He offers to call a cab to come pick them up, knowing they couldn’t afford that either, but Margie is in no state to drive. The last resort would be to call Arthur, and that’s what Adam did after reconsidering the cost of a cab._

_Arthur pulls up in the parking lot about thirty minutes later. By this time Margie is already calming down and drinking from a cup of water that Adam went back inside for. Arthur is thankful for Adam’s quick thinking. The group are back at their house, they’ll have to figure out a way to get the other car out of the parking lot before it gets towed away later. For now, Margie needs to rest. Arthur helps her to their bedroom and leaves Adam in the living room to put their coats away._

_Rummaging around the area, Adam manages to find his mother’s empty pill bottle in her coat pocket. The prescription date is long past due. He’ll have to bring it up to his father later when mother is asleep. After telling him what he had found later, things seemed to have start falling apart more. More than their usual normalcy. His mother never did get a job again after that, forcing Adam to find a part time job over the summer to help pay for some the bills. Adam works at a major chain fast food place. His buddies are there ordering away, he wishes to be with them, eating this greasy slob. There’s a **Detroit Tigers** vs **Los Angeles Dodgers** game today that his friends are going to. He’s been looking forward to a game he really can’t go to since last season. _

_Adam’s friend splits his fries with him when he goes on break. “Come on, man. This is going to be the game of the season! Warm ups are over, and we want to see the game!”_

_Adam dips his fry in ketchup, twirling it slowly. He’s feeling a bit bum he can’t go to this either. “I can’t. I have to work over time today.”_

_“Volunteering to work, mind you. You haven’t even asked your boss yet.” Friend waves his extra ticket in front of Adam’s face. “I’ll even pay for your meal.”_

_Adam sighs. He promised his dad he would work over today to make up the cost of his mother’s medication. It’s a bit more expensive than the last one, but at least insurance is covering a portion of it. The friend prods him some more, and so do the others when they come join him with their own food. He eventually gives in and goes to the game. He had fun and enjoyed himself. Everything seemed ok. The Tigers won, and he’s home after midnight, not a proper time to be back in this family. He’s not welcomed by an unhappy face from his father when he enters the house._

_“Saw you on the screen today at work. I thought you were going to ask your boss to work over time tonight.” Arthur has a glass of gin his hand, still full. Adam is thankful for the fact that he’s not going to drink it. It’s just for show, and Arthur doesn’t drink. He gets tipsy off malt liquor, imagining gin is a nightmare._

_“Sorry. I’ll ask for some tomorrow.” Adam is uncertain if he should feel guilty or happy. He enjoyed catching a foul ball in his cup of coke, and he ate a fully loaded hot dog. What else is there to ask for? Besides almost losing the foul ball to greedy hands next to him._

_“Please do, Adam. Your mother needs help, and I am already working 12-hour days to cover the bills.” Arthur slowly gets up from his seat, stretching his back. They both can hear the cracks in it. Yep, Adam’s guilt is starting to take over as the main dominant emotion out of the two._

_Adam wishes his dad good night after that. He goes up stairs, lobs the ball to the side, and forgets it’s there by morning._

Arthur and Margie are holding hands now. Adam steps back to give the two their space. His shades are retracted, and he’s looking at them with the tears starting to form at his own eyes. This is his time to say good-bye to them till they meet again. He tells them about a bar on one of the planets that has the best milkshakes around, and to say hello to Megan, Pritchard, and Malik. They’ll keep them company. The couple gets excited over this. They love Adam’s friends. They’re always over for Thanksgiving and Christmas, even during their busy work schedules they manage to find some time to be together as a family. They want this again. They all want it with each other, but Adam tells them he won’t be joining them. He’s just here to see them off while he sleeps. His parents understand. They give him a hug before they disappear too.

Adam looks at his outstretched hands. Things are going by too fast. His family and everyone he knows are gone. Who is Sarif going to send to him next? Who else’s death does he have to witness before he’s able to wake up? Morning surely must be getting here soon. He closes his eyes again, and lets himself sit down on the ground, not thinking about anything. During this process he doesn’t even notice the souls walking right past him, the ones that Sarif freshly killed for his storage. He’s going to host a banquet at the church, and fresh blood is going to be needed. Everyone’s going to be there, except for Page. He’s sending the _Shrouded_ in his steed. They’re there to watch and observe the events that are going on around them.

Time is quickly moving on by. Adam is feeling himself float up, no more souls are walking past them to get onto their afterlife. He opens his eyes to see the darkness around him. Sarif’s face doesn’t show up like a giant floating head this time. He’s starts to fall, the items he had disappeared below him. Falling deep into the darkness till he lands back in his body. His body shoots straight up. He’s breathing heavily till he realizes where he is. He looks around to see he’s in Sarif’s bedroom. No Sarif in sight. He quickly gets up and goes to the bathroom to throw up the grain, pieces of bread must have been still stuck in his stomach. He notices the bathroom has been scrubbed clean, no signs of the blood bath. Adam is thankful for this moment of peace without having to throw up for another reason. He looks up at the ceiling, slowly standing up. There’s nothing up there, just dots he wishes to count to pass the time. He doesn’t. Instead he goes back to the bed and sits on it. Kubrick is at the end of the bed sleeping away. His ears perking up every minute or two. Must be having an awesome dream about chasing a fresh blooded squirrel. Adam envies him and wishes he could dream about critters instead of seeing people that are dead walk on past him while staring at him, judging him, letting him know this is his fault.

He lies back down, looks back up the slanted mirror ceiling. He can see everything in the whole room. From this perspective he pictures his topsy turvy life style. Everything is literally becoming upside down in his life. He hates that part too. He rubs his face trying to clear his head. In fact, he just now remembers he’s here and not sleeping outside on the bench freezing his aug’s off. Sarif must have carried him inside during his slumber. He wants to go back to sleep, the dreams he had are starting to swim out of his memory. He can’t even remember what they were about anymore. That’s how quick everything is going inside his head, nothing seems to slow down. He sits up and falls back on the bed with a loud thud. Shades retracted, and he stares back up at the glass ceiling. He is almost back to sleep till he hears the hissing sound, and Kubrick hears it too. He ends up waking up and jumping down to the floor and starts sniffing out for the sound. He manages to find it behind the dresser. The snake slithers out onto the bed.

Adam pulls his sheets up to his face, glaring at the offending animal. He doesn’t know why, but there’s an odd sensation of hands touching him around his ribs. There’s nothing there but the ghostly feeling he thinks he experienced in a dream. He still doesn’t back away from it. He’s not afraid, and he’ll blast the thing with a Nano Blade head on if he has too. The snake is finding Adam’s facial expressions amusing. Not every day Lucifer gets to play around with the person who’s going to outlive every vampire on the planet. If all goes according to plan. Lucifer just needs to push the vampires in the right direction they need to go in, because right now, no old vampires seem to be dying by stakes lately. The hunters have become too afraid and soft. He’ll have to change that by ordering some rogues to go seek out the freshest human meat out there. This in turn will cause a chain reaction, and the vampires will get out there hunting again, and fueling the devil’s blood lust.

 _Do I not frighten you?_ There’s a pause. Lucifer is waiting for an answer, he doesn’t get one. He squints his eyes at Adam, a challenge it is then. He slithers to the other side of the bed, where he talks about Sarif sleeping here with glasses of freshly deceased souls sitting on the nightstand, watching him toss and turn with each soul that came through his head. Adam didn’t know what he meant. He doesn’t remember the dreams, and his quirked eyebrow raised suspicion in Lucifer.

 _You know of nothing I talk about?_ Adam shakes his head no. How peculiar. Lucifer didn’t predict this. Something or some other celestial being is blocking his memories. He’ll have to try another tactic and pay a visit to someone very soon and take care of whatever they’re trying to do to his subject. He suspects it’s someone from that cult, because they had something strange in that liquid that they shot Adam with. Almost like it’s a blocker. No living vampire has a celestial blocker of that sort. It’s even undetectable by the vampire’s senses. Time to leave some hints for Page, find the betrayer.

Lucifer turns back to Adam to find an arm blade at his throat. _Your puny human material possessions can’t do me any harm._ Adam tries anyways. The blade slices the snakes head off. He feels no relief from it, because he sees another snake just make an appearance back on the bed. He goes to try again, Lucifer dodges.

 _You make me laugh, Adam Jensen. I am glad I have chosen you and your dog as the experimental puppets for me._ So, that’s how Kubrick became whatever the hell he is. Sarif didn’t lie to him after all. Adam’s a bit disappointed towards the fact. He wants to add “Kubrick becoming a vampire demon dog” to hist list of reasons to kill Sarif in his sleep next time he’s lying here.

 _I have no way of breaking or manipulating your mind. Time for a new tactic._ Lucifer goes for the guilt trip instead. His last resort, praying to himself that this doesn’t break the man’s mind. He warps into Adam’s closest friend: Margie. Adam’s eyes widen at the trick. He shakes his head trying to see if this is an illusion or he has swimmer’s ear. Spots do appear before him, time to prepare for an attack. He starts to extend something he couldn’t, not realizing his self defense mechanisms won’t work here. The wide-eyed woman comes over and pinches his cheeks, seeing if this is real. She doesn’t understand how she’s alive or here again. Adam turns off the attack gears in his head.

“Adam! You’re here? I’m here! I thought…” Margie looks around, still genuinely confused. “I shouldn’t be here. I died! Adam, I died! We all did! None of your family is left alive. Sarif killed our lives, Michelle’s life, and Megan’s mother’s! You’re not safe here!”

Adam gets up and off the bed, shaken up by this revelation. Margie backs away towards the wall when she sees him pacing and knees shaking. She’s frightened that one moment ago she’s drinking milkshake with a bit of cream soda added, and the next thing she knows she’s back in the world of the living, standing in front of her fucked up son. She feels her own flesh, touches her own eyes, and pinches her own self, ow! She really is alive! She runs into Adam and throws herself into his embrace. Adam hesitates for a moment before he hugs her back. Not really thinking about the tricks behind it. He wants this to feel right, but it doesn’t. He pulls away from her to talk about why, but she has her hands around the back of his neck, holding him in place. Adam stares into her eyes, they’re now a crimson color, no longer a warm brown, followed by a vicious smirk and snake tongue hissing out at him. He manages to break free and push her away.

 _What’s the matter, Adam? Do you not want to talk to your dear old mommy?_ Margie goes to attack Adam. He pulls out his arm blade and stabs the illusion in the stomach. Blood is pouring out of the open wound and she starts to cough out a waterfall from her mouth. He pulls his blade out instantly and catches her before she falls in her own pool of blood. She stares up at him in horror with tears running down her face. How could he do such a thing? Adam shakes his head. No, this is just another illusion, don’t fall for it. Don’t fall for the bloody hand against Adam’s face, don’t fall for the crocodile tears draining down those fake-warm colored eyes, don’t fall for the hissing sound coming out of her mouth telling him that he’s going to watch everyone he cares about now, and the future die a very horrible and sufferable death. He quickly drops her, she cries out again in pain when her head hits the floor, blaming Adam for hurting his dear old mother, and he should be punished with multiple paddling!

 _32 spankings are what you deserve! Why do you do this to me, Adam? Do you not love me? Why do you leave me here to bleed out?_ She thrashes and rolls around, getting nearly the entire carpet stained with blood and gore. He steps away, sits on the bed, and glares at her. Putting it out there as thick as possible to let the devil controlling this fake body that she is NOT his mother! The body stops moving, it convulses, and out comes the snake from the stomach wound. Everything around it disappears.

 _You’re insufferable._ Lucifer disappears without another word, and he’s after whatever he can get from that fucking cult. Someone is going to pay for interfering with the kind he created. Who has the courage and balls to do so? Surely not father. He’s too angry at himself right now to even think about stopping him from destroying his precious planet. It’s not like all the damned souls don’t go to a single place anyways. Someone else with two sets of brave balls is behind this. He knows exactly where to go. To the _Temple of the Shrouded_ and get his answers.

Adam lies back down, an arm covering his face, teeth are grinding on one another. He’s trying to grasp the situation that had just unfolded before him. His mother, no, an imposter of his mother appeared before him, crying, asking him what’s going on. Picturing an evil entity taking her away to some place he’ll never see her again. Stuck somewhere between now and some unimaginable void. He can still hear the cries and screams calling out to him. The annoying hissing sound following close behind. The smile from that pathetic snake is back in front of his face, not in physical form, but in a smoky cloud. Adam rubs his eyes to make the darkness of his vision to go back to the pitch-black area of his head. The image is gone, leaving behind a faint white outline of something he couldn’t pinpoint. He feels relief for a minor moment. The outlines start to take shape, and they form into a picture of his mother, smiling at him, giving him a quick wink. Flashes of a distant memory comes into place.

_Adam’s mom has lost another job. This time with the Dentist office. A basic and simple one, just file folders away in alphabetical order by the last name that appears on the computer. Not an easy enough job for her. The names and the way things are arranged make the job very stressful, and she started to grow bored of it. She’s about to nod off at her desk when a great idea pops into her head telling her to take the doctor’s school and work excuses from the files on the computer. Just print out a few and change the dates with white out and a pen, and she is done doing all that before her thoughts are complete. She stamps them with one of the main dentists’ signatures on all the papers. She moved to the door to leave, not wanting to stay another minute here. She bumps into one of the head dentists catching here leaving; one of the papers with his recognizable signature poking out drops to the floor. He picks it up, shock face like a guppy fish, and he chases after her, wanting an explanation to the meaning of these notes. Safe to say she never returned the next day when she received a call that night from higher management about her behavior, and how such nonsense makes the company look bad._

_Still, she did manage to at least use one before Adam’s school excuse counted as an unexcused absence. She takes Adam to the park. Not the greatest place in Detroit with how filthy it has become, but a man of higher standings is changing that. Cleaner energy! More suitable recycling containers where anything can be recycled! Margie hoped this young man runs for president one day. The world needs someone as charismatic as David Sarif. Thunderous applauds are heard from the recycled electronic stands by some of the trash cans. People are pressing the buttons again to listen to Sarif’s speech._

_“Look, Adam! Is this someone who you want to work for one day?” Margie looks at her ten-year-old son who just stares at the sign. He shrugs his shoulders. Margie didn’t fail to notice that. “I get you. You’re too young anyways to be thinking about this stuff. Still in the phase of skateboards and video games with you!”_

_Adam doesn’t say anything to that. He continues to follow his mom around watching the dogs play fetch with their owners, joggers listening to their music, and biker’s doing their best not to hit any unsuspected toddler crossing their paths. It’s a real trip seeing the banana peel kind of accident every now and then. Adam would feel bad after those kinds of things happen as they really didn’t do this to themselves or ask for trouble. He wonders if he can ask his mom for some rollerblades to make sure he stays out of the other biker’s way._

_“Mom? Have you considered rollerblading?” Adam stops by the water fountain to get a drink._

_Margie ponders this for a moment. It would be a fun activity with her son, but they really can’t afford to buy such expensive items right now. There’s always the credit card, and just pay it back later with interest every other month. This really can’t be her best plan right now. What would Arthur say? He would have a fit over the extra expenditures that they could not afford._

_“What the Hell. It’s just a pair of rollerblades.” Not counting the knee and elbow pads, and two bicycle helmets later the bill is already over $250. This is unaffordable and full of bad judgement, but Margie doesn’t want to make Adam sad, secretly herself. She’s trying to convince herself this is for him. She buys the stuff anyways while shrugging her shoulders at checkout._

_Back at the park, the two are sitting on the ground putting their gear on. Adam is happy about this good thing in his life. He gets to finally learn how to skate right way, and not thinking he’s going to die of scrapes and bruises due to their poor money situation. He looks at his mother to see her standing up with some wobble in her feet. She’ll need to balance soon or end up crashing into a pile of strangers in the way of the banana peel humor. Adam doesn’t want this to happen. He quickly goes to her side, holds her hand, trying to gain balance himself. Margie looks down at him and sees that look of concern and cross-legged knees. She smiles brightly at him, squeezing his hand back, making sure he doesn’t fall before her._

_The two manage to have fun, only a minimal number of casualties were caused due to clumsiness that day, a poor rock and elderly woman all became victims. No one went to the hospital or ended up in the lake to sink to the bottom with the fishes. The elderly woman found it amusing that her tombstone might end up being ironic as her granddaughter is always telling her not to walk on these paths due to the abundance of bikers, skateboarders, and now rollerblades. She has a story to tell her family when she gets home! Margie still feels guilty, and they end up accompanying the lady the whole day, making sure she is hydrated and has plenty to eat. By the end of it all, the sun is starting to set, and it’s time to leave, and go home to have dinner._

_Margie and Adam wave good-bye and go to their own car. It didn’t take long for Margie’s phone to ring, she ignores it. She doesn’t want to hear from her husband, not yet. Her and Adam just had a great moment together, and there’s no need for a mental breakdown in front of people. They’ll ask questions, and they don’t need to know the answers, this is none of their concern. She places her hands on the steering wheel, stares down at the odometer. Adam looks at her with confusion. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. These feelings shouldn’t be happening right now. He just wanted to spend time with his mother, and not listen to her cry. This one emotion is always making him feel guilty again and again. He hates the guilt that forms at the pit of his stomach every time his mother takes him out of school. Every time there’s a fight between his parents and stuff is always getting thrown and broken, he would go on that guilt trip. Sometimes Adam would tingle with the ones he saw repair potential in, others he saw potential pieces for other projects. He doesn’t feel guilty about using his parents emotional break down for his own hands._

_Sadly, when the two came home, the second car Margie would use to get around is now off limits and is out for sale. Adam doesn’t understand the logic in this. His mother won’t be able to get a job if she has no car, Arthur argues that she can take the bus. She then argues that they won’t have money for a bus pass, he argues the things she bought in the pass that could’ve been used as mode of transportation. She quietly argues that he’s being unfair, he says this is her fault. Her fault. Adam has enough. He ran away from home that night, blaming his dad, and even not so secretly blaming himself for leaving the school to hang out with the one person he looks up to when he needs a cheering up, his father always has been on the bottom of the spatula. No one’s going to turn around to look up at him._

_He runs away to a church just outside of town. It’s locked, that doesn’t stop him from banging his shoulder against it. He sighs, so much for being an open place to the people who need it. He sticks his hands in his pockets and goes to leave. The door behind him unlocks and cracks open slightly, a light is turning on. He looks behind him and squints, growing suspicion is settling in his stomach, a killer would have opened this door. He steps inside the beautifully lit church anyways. He scuffs at the too many flashy patterns around the place. Why do churches have to have expensive things when they can use the money they get for the needy? He sits down on one of the pews in the back and looks at the stained-glass windows up front. Resembling angels, Mary and Joseph with Baby Jesus, and white Madonna lilies are painted and planted all over the place. He remembers that his mother loves these types of flowers._

_“Maybe if I…” He’s thinking about stealing a flower. No one will notice one flower missing, will they? He’s unsure. A tang of guilt tumbles over him. The door did open and invite him in to clear his head, not to unroot any elegant flowers._

_The stained-glass window of the arc angel Gabriel shines brightly on one of the lilies next to him, the others do not have any moonlight from the outside shinning on them. How odd. Adam stands up and goes over the Lily in question. Tear drops are settled nicely on the flower out of the eleven around it. He wants to pick it; this light is telling him to pick it. He glares up at the angel as if it’s really hinting him to do something._

_“You better be right about this.” He picks the single flower. The light moves with it, making the drops shine brightly, giving the flower some buoyancy. “You’re a strange and questionable phenomenon. How does this science even work?”_

_Better not to ask. He leaves after that, closing the church behind him. The lights shut off and he can hear a click of the lock. He pretends he didn’t witness anything. He hurries home. It’s late at night, and he can see a light on in the kitchen. Gulping he opens the door; his mother is sitting there with two cups of hot cocoa. She smiles at him, motioning for him to sit down. Adam does, with the flower behind his back._

_“I made sure the marshmallows are to your liking. No staleness to them!” She makes a swirling motion with her finger on the table._

_Adam looks down at the cup, guilt filling him up again. He didn’t feel like drinking this delicious treat with his stomach growling at him. Margie looks at him with concern, he’s always up for hot chocolate no matter what the circumstance might be. She stands up, goes over to Adam’s side, and kneels to his level, hugging him. Her hand touches the stem. She pulls away in surprise. Adam sees that he can’t hide this anymore, he’s still unsure if he did the right thing._

_“For you, mom.” Adam places the Madonna Lily under her nose, the yellow middle part tickles her nose._

_She loves it. She starts talking about how she should buy a thing vase for such a beauty! Then she remembers the talk with her husband. Not a good idea right now to spend money on stuff they don’t need. She settles for a tall glass of tap water. She places the flower in, gives it a sniff, and thanks Adam again for bringing her such a beauty. She asks where he picked this at. He hesitates. What does he say here? That he went to a church that magically opened the door for him and invited him inside to pick the flower? No, she would get onto him for being a thief, and would make him apologize to the priest of the church. He needs a better excuse._

_“One of our neighbors has a Lily flower garden. She saw me…crying.” He leaves it at that. He feels bad for lying to her._

_Margie says nothing towards Adam’s words. She suspects something is up with that statement, and wonders if she should prod at the neighbors around the area to see if he had stolen it from them. Adam looks away, trying his best to hide his shame. Only if he had a pair of sunglasses then she be asking him why he’s wearing them at night time._

_“Adam?” Margie watches his face change left and right, not wanting to sit still. “It’s ok. I am not worried about where you really got them. Just please calm down.” She hugs him again._

_Adam stops making faces. He looks up at her to see those beautiful eyes looking down on him with loving warmth. He embraces it, welcomes it, but it still didn’t let him fall asleep that night._

Adam wakes up with a ragged breath. He looks around the room to see that he’s still right where he is, great. He’s glad Sarif didn’t transport him in his sleep again. He didn’t need to be waking up in a sex dungeon or some sort of creepy kitchen with hanging bodies above him that are dripping blood out of their skulls into the buckets beneath their feet. A morbid thought, he’s aware of. Lately he can’t help these thoughts running through his head. Sarif’s taunts and threats are starting to eat away at his body. He tries not to think about it. He looks to the foot of his bed to see that Kubrick is in a deep sleep, and probably thinking about chasing squirrels and sucking out their blood.

Bad thoughts continue to plague his mind. He places an arm over his eyes, thinks about what he just dreamed about. His mother, the lily, and the angel that sent him a temporary blessing. Not a very kind thing for any celestial being to do. The problem didn’t fix itself, and his mother didn’t straighten up after the gift. She continued to lose any jobs she applied for and take him out of class every time. Sometimes he’s grateful for the time away from school, and other times his teachers would mark him as an unexcused absence automatically for the day because they knew what kind of person his mom is. Going to the zoo to pet the stingrays is not considered a valued reason, even if it’s for learning purposes as his mother puts it. They’re such pretty animals, and it’s funny to imagine them with googly eyes on their belly instead of on their back.

A smile creeps on his face, he uses his free hand to touch his lips. He feels wetness around a corner, tears. He moves his hands back down to his side, he doesn’t want to touch his face anymore. He closes his eyes and lets the tears sweep through him like a fast truck. He opens his mouth and lets out a feral scream. It’s the only thing he can do right now till Sarif comes back with his breakfast.

He doesn’t even take notice of the Madonna Lily on the nightstand.

Artwork done by the amazing [soothsayerc](http://soothsayerc.tumblr.com/)!


	4. Cathedral of Scars - Part 4 - David Sarif/Adam Jensen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness is closing on him, the falsehood of friendship is stranding him in the corner, murder dogs are walking on the line of betrayal, a fallen angel has a devil on its own shoulders, crimson eyes are flickering on an evil man’s face begging for salvation, and….an angel’s touch of feather and God’s laughter is not enough for Adam to redeem Sarif’s soul.

 

 

Artwork done by the amazing [soothsayerc](http://soothsayerc.tumblr.com/post/182503146475/collaboration-for-cathedral-of-scars-chapter-4-by)!

Adam looks at the cup filled with blood resting on top of the night stand next to a familiar flower. He sits up in his bed and quickly grabs it. Spinning it in his hands. He can’t believe this. How did something so precious end up here? Did Sarif place it here while slept? He must have. Not many people knew about his mother’s favorite flower, and Sarif of all people could’ve easily found out by digging deeper into his past. More than he normally does. Sighing, Adam touches the teardrops on one of the leaves. They don’t fall off, almost as if they’re glued on. The flower doesn’t look fake to him. An easier way to find out would be to scratch the stem a little to see if there’s a watery light green color. It’ll mean the flower is real, and not some well-replicated fate. He tests fate and does so, he’s unable to make a mark. How strange. He sets the flower back down in its original spot. The teardrops are shining brightly from the sunny spot of the window. Adam places a hand over his eyes to shield himself from the harsh sunlight.

As if this isn’t bad enough, Sarif decides to come in by loudly slamming the door open. “Morning, Adam! I brought more drinks!”

Sarif’s face is filled with an unusual cheer. Not the “I am going to murder someone you know today, again” look, but a genuine smile. Like the first time they met on a job interview, and Sarif introduced him to the entire team of the building; and what their important roles were to make sure the company prospers. The meet and greet lasted all day. He remembers Megan complaining about how Sarif took away too much time in their own day to let him meet everyone up to the mascot of the company. She’s joking, of course. Adam loves meeting the people he’s going to be forced to work with. Makes documentation an easier learning skill when he can judge a person’s character based on their action and reception. Never have he had to reprimand anyone from the company. The security people he worked with were good people. Reminded him of his SWAT days with his buddies when they would go out and have a good time. Now, things are different and to the point where things are too surreal.

“Adam?” Sarif stares at the newly made vampire. Adam looks like he’s contemplating something invisible on the bedsheets. Shrugging, Sarif sets the tray down, knocking the flower to the ground. Not on purpose. He just didn’t see it there. How could he not? Such beauty can’t go unnoticed just by anyone. Even by pseudo-demons. Maybe it’s because of just that. Vampires are a form of demon, even without a Hell. There’s no Hell in the afterlife, Adam remembers that much. They’re just stuck on this planetary form of existence till someone wipes them out.

“Hey! Adam!” Sarif places a glass under Adam’s nose. Adam breaks free from his gaze and stares at the glass. He grows pale. This scent smells familiar. Smells of chemicals, hard work, and a pinch of pearl. No, he’s not going to drink her. He’s not going to drink Megan’s blood. He pushes the glass away and gets up from the bed. Barely able to stand and is caught by Sarif before he fell over. He hates himself for relying on this man to help him keep his balance. Sarif doesn’t even say anything. He sits Adam back on the bed. Adam flops on his back. Closing his eyes to block out the harsh sunlight.

Kubrick on the other hand has just woken up from his sleep. His ears perk up when he smells the blood coming off Sarif. He sits up and barks in Sarif’s direction. Sarif looks down at the glass from last night and back at Kubrick. He holds the glass under Kubrick’s nose and lets the dog lap it up. Afterall, someone has to drink it before it goes to waste. Fresh arm blood from the freezer doesn’t last outside very long. Adam pretends he can’t hear his dog do ungodly things. He grabs a pillow and places it under his head and shoves parts of it on his ears. Sarif quirks an eyebrow at this mysterious behavior. He leaves the other cup there and moves a hand to Adam’s head. Gently prying off a hand from an end of the pillow. Adam allows it. Not like he can fend off Sarif right now with how weak he feels.

“You have to drink, son. You can’t go this long without blood.” Sarif tries to reason with him in the most basic way he can. Explaining a vampire concept in too much detail might overwhelm somebody. Not that he cares, but this isn’t just a somebody. This is a son who he wants to try and talk to. Maybe even start over once they’re at the church. Sarif really didn’t have a change of heart after last night, but more of an enlightenment. He can’t force these things onto Adam, or nothing’s really going to get accomplished. Sarif snaps his fingers as if something’s going to appear. Nothing does.

“I got an idea!” Sarif gets off the bed and goes over to where the tray is and removes the other glass. He takes it and throws it across the room. Kubrick instantly gets off the bed and chases after it. Jumping at an abnormally high distance to catch it. Adam feels like he should be surprised but he’s not. It’s an overgrown Frisbee being thrown to a demon dog, what’s there to be surprised about?

Sarif turns to look at Adam to see if he finds this enjoyable. He’s not. Adam is just lazing there on the bed, wanting to be somewhere else other than here. This needs to be fixed. Sarif takes the Frisbee pan out of Kubrick’s mouth and places it on Adam’s belly. Adam peeks through his fingers. He’s already smelling the awful slobber coming off it. The slobber is not even normal smelling! Smells like a bottle of battery acid. Adam hopes this is now how all demon animals’ taste buds are. He picks it up, stares at his blurry reflection on the back. He can’t see much due to how dirty the back is. Looks like Sarif didn’t keep his kitchen crew around to clean for him. Hopefully they didn’t get turned into meat popsicles too.

“Some of Megan’s blood mixed with another’s. It’s why the science scent is a bit off.” Sarif forces the other drink under Adam’s nose.

Adam pushes it away. “No. I don’t want to drink my friend.”

Sarif studies him a bit. He steps back, hand on his chin, rubbing it. Ideas floating through his head on how to get Adam to willingly drink blood. He snaps his fingers when an idea does eventually pop into his head. He leaves the room and returns with a glass of some brown looking ale. Adam turns his nose away from the smell. It smells of an awful stench of dried liquor with some expired fruit juice. He covers his mouth, hoping not to throw up on the bed or the dog. Sarif smirks in amusement. He sets the glass down on the nightstand. Really, it's not as bad tasting as it looks. Didn’t anyone teach Adam not to judge a book by its cover? He steps back from the scene.

Adam retracts his shades, staring at Sarif in disbelief. “How do you live with yourself knowing you’ve killed innocents just for some sick game?”

“Game?” Sarif laughs. “You think this is some game to me? No, son. I have to survive just like everyone else. Yeah, I probably would have stepped back a bit. Go after some homeless person or a gang banger. No one would miss them, but where’s the fun in that? No one would actually care, and they taste bad!”

Not the overwhelming answer Adam expected, but he still can’t see the satisfaction behind it. Such a sick person Sarif turned into. Where is that sympathetic man that did not fake such laughter or smiles? Seems like this whole time the older man has been playing the people close to him for a fool. Then there’s this Page character and his beloved temple followers; especially, the leader…something is off about them. Sense of betrayal stunk up the room where Adam rendered unconscious. Nothing good came out of that shot, and the odd dreams he can’t seem to remember getting? Makes him feel like something is connected to that. The dreams, the barrier, and the snake trying to break through. He remembers something along those lines. The snake wrapping itself around Sarif’s body-wait. Adam looks up to see the snake has constricted itself around the vampire’s body and is resting its head nicely on top of the shoulder. Sarif is still in the same position, only his black eyes are a crimson red and that smile is Cheshire like with a fork tongue poking through under those two front teeth.

_Hello, Adam. How are things this morning? I see you still haven’t adapted to the taste of blood. That’s ok. Hunting is much more fun and exhilarating. You get to try all kinds of exquisite animal blood. Make sure you taste the white-tailed deer! It’s in season right now or maybe you prefer a crow’s foot? You have that black crow look, you know. Or how about poor people that just wander into the church to get out of the cold? Careful though, you might have to fight off Sarif depending on the texture and richness of such choices if they’re crying._

Adam makes a note to himself to make sure there’s holy water around where he’s going. He’s not going to take any chances with this thing wrapping around other people, making their eyes and smiles look creeper than they usually do. Kubrick seems to understand what’s going on. He’s barking at the snake, wagging his tail in the process. Figures the demon dog would want to try and communicate with it. Adam stands up, walks up to Sarif, determined to figure things out. He pulls his fist back and punches the man square in the jaw. Sarif stumbles a bit, shaking his head. Lucifer’s hold doesn’t lessen any. A few more punches should do it. Adam takes another swing, Sarif grabs the blue colored augmented wrist, and turns it against him. Causing Adam to get punched in the his own face instead.

_Stop hitting yourself, boy. You’ll only bruise your pretty faceeeee. Did you like that? I put some emphasis on the e. Human tongues transforming into a mixture of reptilian body parts makes words run a bit smoother. Only if this body is young though. Then I wouldn’t need such a body like this to talk to you. Curse father for permanently making me a snake. Guess it’s my suture to be this way. Only holding physical form when certain conditions are met. Oh well, at least I can at least communicate with your dog. He likes me when he’s not barking at me. Notice the little tail wag? He’s going to betray you one day. Come on my side, little guy. I always wanted to own a border collie! More than a golden retriever. I’ll have to give you a different name than Kubrick. That director is overrated. You’ll need a good strong name after I put your owner in his place._

“Stay away from my dog!” Adam loses his cool. He punches Sarif with full strength when the devil is looking the other way.

Lucifer takes a step back, laughing. He’s laughing over the ridiculousness of it all. Being in this human body has its downsides. Being able to feel pain is one of them. Pulling back, the snake unravels itself from Sarif. Causing the host body to fall to the floor in an unconscious state. Adam didn’t pity him. He hopes that he cracked his head open when he landed on it. No luck, there’s no pool of blood to signal the dead body is dying again. What a shame. Adam turns back to see the snake is on the bed, curled up in a position ready to strike. No longer speaking to him through any mouth or mind link. If Adam had to say, the snake didn’t look really pleased that it has been caught off guard. Turning away it slivers to the window and out it goes before a nano blade can reach him. Glass shattering at the heat of the impact.

“What happened?” Sarif sits up, shakes his head, trying to regain his vision.

“How about you tell me? You were possessed by that…thing!” Adam moves away from Sarif, staring outside the broken window. The evidence of the heated blade sitting outside in the cold. Its conditions are no longer favorable to sustain.

Sarif looks outside the window. There’s nothing there. He turns back to look at Adam with concern. Not for Adam but for himself. If Lucifer is here trying to take over someone’s body, then there’s not much time left. Impatience is starting to show on all sides. He starts pacing, rubbing his head. Only a matter of moments when Page will call, demanding why things haven’t proceeded according to plan. Adam’s already slept in. He doesn’t need to stay here anymore than he has to. Quietly, Sarif slips his phone and I-link on silent before anyone disturbs him. He walks back over to Adam.

“Don’t worry about the window, son. Let’s just get you cleaned and out the door.” Sarif disappears into the bathroom to start a bath for Adam, and to wash his own face. Sarif looks up in the mirror to see Lucifer’s human form with pitch black wings staring at him in the reflection. Stumbling backwards, he trips on the floor mat, and crashes to the ground. Damn that fallen angel! Standing up, he rubs his butt, and grits his teeth at the soreness. Why does that snake have to make an appearance right now? He investigates the mirror to see runes sprawled all over the mirror. The same ones that were in the blood earlier on the bathroom floor but are shaking. Forming no pattern and are just there for his voice to be voiced. Guess Lucifer didn’t want to use Sarif’s body as a vessel anymore.

_I’m still here you retched excuse to carry my blood! I don’t know what’s going on with your boy, and I don’t care to know the details right this second, but a fair warning to you, Sarif, if you don’t deliver this concoction and perform these experiments at that unholy site, I will make sure your soul never reaches the afterlife. You’ll never get to see your precious niece and sister ever again! I’ll make your soul stay stuck in between worlds, constantly dreaming in an endless void, and father will have no pity for you! No pity for you! NO PITY FOR YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? NO ONE WILL RESCUE YOU!_

Sarif covers his ears. He doesn’t want to listen to this twisted evil thing anymore. He’s not wrong, he knows that. Lucifer will make his life miserable. Anything his miserable blood touches will automatically make their souls belong to him. His father won’t do anything about it. Hearsay says its punishment for the damned. All of the damned. Innocent or purely here by coincidence. Strange how the living say God is compassionate and would never hurt his children and refers to the holy Bible as the one true law. Doubt people really have placed much thought into the writings and the undertone messages that man have altered throughout the course of history are there.

_Don’t play with me Sarif! I will reach through this mirror within your own reflection and tear your eyes and tongue out! You’re pitiful! Just remember, you’re not saved in the end of this! I will make sure of that! Father won’t…he won’t take pity on you….Just don’t fuck it up._

Sarif punches the runes on the mirror, severing the connection, and causing it to break it into different pieces. He’s breathing hard and clutching the sink with tight fists. He’s angry. He hates being lied to! If Lucifer is anything other than a terrible pseudo-devil is that he’s a terrible liar! Master of manipulation when he nestles himself in someone’s head. Sarif leans his head down in the sink as if that’s going to do anything to clear his head. The bastard almost got to him. What made him slip up? He hesitated on his words, and then vanish before a good fist could punch a metaphorical nose. He looks up again, sees a white feather in one of the reflections. What does this mean? What is this monstrosity doing in his house? He slaps the shard away, cutting himself in the process of his hatred. He curses to himself as he places his bleeding finger under water. That’s when Adam comes in.

“Sarif, what’s going on?” Adam looks over to see the blood dripping down in the sink. His eyes sink in, breathing grows ragged, and everything starts to come together into a single dot. He rushes over, grabs Sarif’s wrist, and brings it up to his mouth. Sucking on the finger like his life depends on it.

Sarif doesn’t understand what’s going on. He tries to pull his finger out of Adam’s mouth, but the other vampire uses the strength in his augments to hold the older man in place. The catch of the day will not leave this room, nor will he escape the position he’s in. He keeps sucking, getting a high off the vampire blood. Chills and pleasure going up Adam’s spine. His lower areas start to get hot and bothered. Nothing good will come out of this if one only walks out of here alive. Sarif does his best to get Adam off of him, but he’s wrestled to the ground. Blood is dripping down Adam’s chin; augmented eyes are dilated. He won’t stop till Sarif is bled dry.

_I am back now. Stupid goody-two-shoes angels are stepping in my way, making my fear tactics obsolete. However, Adam, I can’t ignore what you’re doing to your poor “father”. Here he is helping you, making sure that you’re well fed regardless of what life he takes, and you’re just going to suck him in this sexual way till he’s dead or gets a boner himself? Hah. This is too dramatically comical. I don’t think I’ve seen such a sadder Shakespearean drama go down. Would you like to meet him, so you can tell him your future play ideas over some stupid milkshakes? Poor soul still hasn’t adapted the radio thing your kind has invented. He thinks they’re possessed by ghostly spirits and apparitions, which doesn’t seem too far fetched. They don’t exist here, but sometimes the mind can be used as a gateway to communicate between the living and the dead. Let me show you._

Adam’s breathing hard. He’s staring as Sarif, seeing his face has grown to a sickly pale color. He tries to pull away, he really does, but some invisible hand is holding him there now. Adam’s eyes shift to where the hand is coming from. It’s from a tall man in a black and white suit with suave brown hair combed over to the side. Mischievous red eyes with two fangs sticking outside of his mouth. Adam’s artificial spine starts to tingle up in a sensation he can’t register to put into words. This man, this demon, whoever he is, loves watching Adam’s fangs stay interlocked on Sarif’s thumb. This is not good. Adam has to use all the willpower he can muster to not suck anymore blood out of Sarif. Forcing the victim to fall to the floor, taking Adam with him. Damn it all! The arm tightens, shifts into a pure albino color, hand turns into an arrowhead shape, and smoke comes out of the pit’s vipers. Adam tries to shift back, escape from the snake’s grasp, but he’s bitten, hard. Right on the side of the neck.

“Stop!” Adam feels faint. The demon is pumping him full of some kind of venom. It’s making him sleepy. He’s hearing a faint old tune in the background from the radio. Almost mocking him for dealing with this kind of obnoxious crucifixion. He shakes his head, trying to make things not so blurry, white, and smoky. The tune starts to fade away, replaced with familiar voices from his friends. They sound so strange. Not like they normally do. He wonders if Lucifer can hear them too, or is he’s just hearing what he wants to hear. Nasty static that makes calling sounds like other vampires are going to jump through the broken mirror any minute.

_Pritchard stacks his papers on the table, causing the noise to extend through the microphone. “Honestly, Malik and Reed, why are we doing a news broadcast? Can’t we just continue listening to the show tunes? If this fictional devil has brought anything good amongst our lives is his taste in music.”_

_Malik waves her finger and makes some scoring tisk sounds. “Come now, Pritchard! We’re_ _doing this for Adam! He needs us for this event! We won’t be able to help him with this fight afterwards.”_

_Pritchard doesn’t feel convinced. “Through grated microphones? Does it look like we’re back in the early ‘who’s on first?’ 20 th century?”_

_Megan screams out in frustration. “Guys! Adam needs our help! We’re here to talk him back into the light!”_

_Malik agrees with Megan’s sentiment. She waves her hand in the air in a smoothing circle motion and then presses the button next to her. A soft humming noise starts its traction into the microphone. Everyone is making sure it’s the right pitch, only a slight argument from Pritchard saying that it’s not exactly Adam’s original mother’s voice. Megan doesn’t understand why they can’t use Adam’s adoptive one. She’s the one that’s been there his whole life! Pritchard doesn’t disagree. The sound would be more familiar to Adam when it’s from a parent that didn’t try to burn down a facility. Malik argues back that this is the only voice that Adam remembers soothing him before he went in for some genetic therapy every second day of the week._

_Pritchard flails his hands in the air. He wants to choke everyone for not getting on board with this. “Listen! Let’s stop arguing and just turn it up! I am sure it’ll reach the bonehead before he joins some demon juice gang!”_

_Megan face palms. “That’s not a thing, Pritchard! Lucifer is messing with his mind. To put him in a complete stasis mode, so no one can reach him when does wake up.”_

_Malik rubs her chin. “Why is he letting us do this?”_

_Megan looks downcast. “He thinks this won’t work, because we’re doing nothing but arguing instead of pushing for a solution.”_

_Doubts rise in the other two. They confront Megan, giving her a hug. Hoping this way she can come back to reality realizing she’s not facing this alone. The devil won’t entangle their friendship. His manipulation won’t work on them and this temporarily trapped black and white theme. Everything’s going to get through to Adam. He won’t be lost. Megan will show him. She will! She folds her hands in a prayer motion, lifts her eyes to the microphone, and starts humming away in the tune of Adam’s mother’s voice. Malik joins in soon after, adding the high pitch vocals for synchronization. Pritchard is reluctant to join in till Malik pinches his arm._

_“Yelp! Alright, fine! Just don’t expect me to be humming in key.” Pritchard coughs into his fist to clear his throat. A bit nervous he is as he’s never sang a song in front of other people before. Malik has caught him one time when he snuck into Sarif’s suite to take a shower. Some reason she had the same idea to come join him. Both singing in a weird unison that never left those bathroom walls._

_Pritchard looks around to see that the backdrop behind him is starting to move and fall to the ground. Lucifer is getting suspicious. Pulling on his ponytail, he goes back to the microphone and starts humming in the lowest key he could muster. Malik and Megan give him a side glance that says he can do better. Pritchard glares at them. He sucks in a deep breath and lets out the loudest hum in the most off-key tone the two women have ever witnessed. They instantly covered Pritchard’s mouth, not wanting to hear another pitched from him ever again. Pritchard sat back crossing his arms and glared at the scene in front of him with a pout._

_Adam’s vision is what the three are seeing from a first-person view perspective on the glass in front of them. The lady’s voices doesn’t seem to be dragging him back to his senses, but they did manage to stop him from sinking any further in his own mind. Thinking on the spot, Pritchard adjusts the controls on the dashboard in front of him. Not really knowing what he’s doing. Some of these buttons have to make something go higher. He pushes, pulls, moves, swings, and even bangs on it a few times. Nothing seems to want to work for him. Frustrated, he kicks the console, causing him to fall out of his chair with a loud crash._

_The falling stops, Adam’s eyelids start to move. He’s looking around, trying to figure out where he is, and where the crash came from. Pritchard hosts himself up, supporting a bump on his head, and mumbles to himself that of course getting hurt would snap Adam back into the world of the mental living. He turns to see the two have stopped. Both support a concern look on their face. The mother’s hum didn’t do anything, but there seems to be another concern brewing. Pritchard points behind them. Their floor is starting to fade away. Megan and Malik stand up instantly, their chairs sink in through the floor. The three jumps on top of the dash, and start banging on the screen in front of them, yelling for Adam to wake up, or they will join him wherever he’s supposed to be going!_

_Adam’s head is starting to pound. He clutches it and looks behind him. He sees the three banging on the glass, crying out to him. Adam blinks, confused, and worried. What’s he supposed to do? There’s blackness all around him. He runs towards the three, hand reaching out to them. He only manages to touch the glass. He starts banging on it too. He even tries his augmentations. He comes to the realization he doesn’t have any. He’s…normal? No time for thinking like that. He stands back, uses a bit of his police training to force a crack into the glass. He tries it again and again. The third time does the trick. The floor starts to pull the three under, they’re almost knee deep into the abyss. Adam grabs Megan’s hand first. Pulling her out of there. Megan grabs onto Malik next, and Adam grabs onto Pritchard’s arm. The two heave backwards, pulling with all the strength the can dig up._

_Megan starts to cry when she gets Malik out. “I swear I am going to chain a shackle on you back at the bar!”_

_Malik hugs her. “Ditto for you. Let’s save Pritchard!”_

_Malik and Megan grab onto the other arm, he’s almost neck deep in the blackness. They all pull. One, two, three, pull! They’re at his shoulders. One, two, three, pull! The elbows are visible. One, two, three, pull! They can see the full color of his jacket. One, two, three, pull! The knees are buckling. One, two, three, pull! Ankles are bare. One, two, three, pull! A black hand reaches out and grabs Pritchard’s foot._

_Pritchard tries to shake the hand off. “This thing has me! It wants to drag me down into the darkness! I am too young for this! I don’t handle small spaces well!”_

_Adam growls. “Not on my watch.” He braces himself on any item that hasn’t slipped into the ground. With a bit of determination and muscle strength, the entire team manages to lodge Pritchard out of the goo. However, the hand doesn’t let go. It continues to try and drag Pritchard back in. The three brace themselves against the backboard once more, no one is budging. Another hand comes up and wraps itself around Adam’s arm._

_Pritchard lets out a scream. “Oh Hell! Let go of us you prick!” He starts kicking at it. Hoping that it does something. The hand only grows more irritated. It starts to squeeze tightly around the man’s throat with its long arm. Squeezing the air out of him._

_Adam doesn’t understand how he can be choking, unless…he sees it now. “Pritchard, you’re not alive. None of you are! You can’t be choking when you don’t need air in the first place! It’s an illusion! This whole thing is inside of my head. Making you three appear here! None of you are here!”_

_Megan looks at Adam. “How can you say that? We’re here! We’re real, Adam! This is all real! We’re doing our best to wake you up!”_

_“No, I am not asleep!” Adam lets go of Pritchard, causing him to sink into the abyss, his last gasp of air full of remorse and betrayal. The hand poking out soon stops moving, and it sinks._

_Malik can’t believe what Adam has done. “Jensen! You killed him! He just wanted to save you! How can you ignore the cries of your mother?”_

_Adam looks at Malik. “I don’t remember my mother ever singing to me in that laboratory. Things that a child might retain would be the voice of someone really close to him. I don’t remember being this close. Only Michelle…You would’ve used her voice if you knew me so well!”_

_Adam goes to strike at Malik with his fist. He needs to prove his thoughts right. She ducks his punch and goes to fight him back. He blocks her, and then grabs her by the arm, flinging her around with an arm blade at her throat, ready to slice it open. She’s struggling, crying, and asking him why he’s doing this when he needs to save himself! Adam ignores her. If this is his illusion, then he can control it how he wants. Demons will not affect him. He will not let them. He takes the blade and stabs Malik in the throat. Malik lets out a court of blood from her mouth, and her eyes roll in the back of her head. She falls over, twitching, and sinks in the abyss to join Pritchard._

_“You’re next, Megan.” Adam turns to look at Megan. She’s clapping and giving him a round of applause for seeing through this scheme. She catwalks towards Adam, running her hands up his ribs, just like that  snake did. He pushes her away._

_Megan catches her fall. Arms over her chest in a hurt motion. “How dare you, Adam! Why do you want to hurt little old me?” Her eyes turn red._

_“You’re not Megan. They’re not who they say they were.” Adam retracts his blade. He sees two people form behind Megan, Pritchard and Malik. They’ve returned with red eyes and their mouths are opened wide, showing off their fangs._

_Malik stands on one side of Adam. Hands touching his arm, and her head leaning against his shoulder. “You do your friends wrong. You nearly slit my throat. Want to kill me? Go for my heart next time. That’s where it beats the loudest.”_

_Adam elbows her in the face. Malik falls backwards. Pritchard goes over to help her. Extending a hand outward for the demon to take. She takes it, gives him a compliment on how much more of a gentleman he is than Adam. A man should never hit a lady much less try to stab them. Megan lets out a shriek of laughter. Agreeing that men are such pigs sometimes. Never stopping to think if their actions would cause more harm than good. Not in this world or in Adam’s mind. The standards are different when struggling to keep the sanity. One Adam doesn’t know if he has any left. He takes a stance. The electrical nodes on his knuckles ready to TELSA strike the three if needed._

Back in the real state of mind, Sarif is starting to wake up. He sits up, clutching his head, and nearly pukes up whatever contents he had this morning from his mouth, which turns into dry heaving. “What happened? Why do I feel so dizzy?”

Sarif gets to his feet, knees are wobbly, and ends up falling down on one. Definitely can’t stand up at this time. Shaking his head, he slowly moves his head up to see Adam lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from the side of his neck. His whole body is shaking as if he’s in a seizure. Sarif slowly drags himself over to the body; moving Adam’s neck to the side when he gets there. Two puncture holes appear on the skin. Sarif has an idea who’ve made these wounds. He looks around to see if Lucifer is anywhere to be seen. He’s not. Though, not out of the woods yet. Sarif holds open one of Adam’s eyelids and examines the coloration. Blood red. His mechanical eyes show no sign of hemorrhage but demonic possession by the fallen angel.  

“What is going on?” Sarif lets go and sits back. He tries to think of a way to get Adam to stop convulsing without passing out.

Kubrick comes in with a glass in his mouth. Aw, the empty one where the blood would be. This gives Sarif an idea. He takes a fist and knocks Kubrick in the face, making the dog pass out instantly. Sarif catches him before he hits his head on the ground. The next thing he does is force himself to stand up and get a swiss army knife from the medicine cabinet. He sits back down on the ground and cuts a small line on Kubrick’s front leg. Making some of the blood drip out. He takes the glass and squeezes small bits of blood into the glass. It’s not enough to for both, but it will give Sarif enough time to get to the place where thawed out body parts are in his kitchen. He drinks it, giving himself a bit of relief back in his system.

“Sorry, boy. This is to save your master.” Sarif checks the leg to make sure that the wound has closed on its own. It did. That’s a good thing. Adam rushing at his throat with an arm blade is the last thing Sarif wants.

He stands up, leaning against the wall. The blood itself may only get him to the kitchen and back. Once there, he goes to the oversized refrigerator. He opens it and pulls out a female hip and a male upper arm. The muscles and blood in them both are tender and juicy. Sarif licks his lips, some drool dribbling down his chin. No, not the time to want a bite. He needs to save Adam. He grabs a couple of sharp knives made to cut through human flesh and bones. He slowly makes it back to Adam’s body. As expected, Kubrick is still passed out.

“God, what is going to come over me after this?” Sarif collapses to his knees, dropping everything. He’s growing weaker with each movement he makes with his hand. He can’t give up now. He has to carve up the limbs and drain the blood into the cup. He forces himself to sit down and keep his head up. Closing his eyes and letting out deep breaths, he picks up the knife and stabs it into the flesh. Cold blood is running down the arm.

“Hang in there, Adam.” Sarif collects as much blood from the arm as he can. Nearing half a cup. It’ll do for now. He goes over to Adam’s neck, sees the wound hasn’t closed, and the blood is starting to thicken but not coagulate. The wounds are opening up deeper, and blood clots are coming out in small chunks. Shit. Sarif knows he doesn’t have much time. He pulls Adam up into his lap, forces his mouth open, and makes him drink the human blood. Hoping this will work, and the snake’s venom will wear off. Thank the lucky stars that the filter is doing what it’s supposed to be doing in the backup supply. Or is it? Something else is at work here when Adam’s body starts to glow red. The shot affects again? Only explanation that makes sense.

“Come on, Adam. You’re no good to me by being completely dead.” Sarif opens up the other limb, draining the blood into the empty glass. Taking it he places more down Adam’s throat.

Adam’s body stops convulsing and glowing, but the wound won’t close. Sarif lets out a frustrated sigh. He’s not sure how to get the venom out. It’s strange enough as is that he’s not dead in the afterlife space yet. Even the back up supply should’ve ran out by now. Something’s not right here. Something feels like it’s conflicting in Adam’s bloodstream. Rubbing his forehead, he tries to think again while giving Adam as much blood as he can. He doesn’t even notice the messed up Runes on a shard of the mirror moving.

“What can I even do?” Sarif is starting to panic. The limbs are about to be dry, and he doesn’t have the energy to stand up to fetch anymore right now.

The runes move from one shard to another. Bouncing through the reflection as if a prism is bestowed upon the pieces. Not stopping till they reach Adam’s neck. Sarif doesn’t notice. He’s too busy drinking a cup for himself, debating if he should’ve, Adam is more important here, right? Dealing with Page over a deceased science project? That’s a no go, but Page will use his family if Adam’s dead. He doesn’t really have a choice. Spitting out a strain of curse words he really opened up adam’s throat, grabbed a limb, and started draining whatever blood is left in it in Adam’s mouth. Luckily the runes manage to snag themselves onto Adam’s neck, right on the two needle points.

“I am at the point of just feeding you to your dog!” Sarif throws the limb to the side. “Please wake up, Adam! Don’t let the devil take control of you!”

Sarif hugs Adam close to him. Not even feeling the tears run down his eyes. Remorse starts to plague him. It shouldn’t. He’s a heartless monster who has no feelings for anyone. He killed all his family and friends. He killed people because he’s sick in the head, and he wants Adam all to himself. Would Adam really see that when he goes off to his milkshake heaven? He doubts it. All Adam is going to see is a monster that turned his entire world against him by killing it. Clutching Adam’s shirt, he lays him down till he hears angelic whispers saying only cowards give up. No! He’s not going to give up! He’ll continue to fight Adam’s death! Lucifer will not win here! He’ll spray the wound with holy water if he has too! Wait…holy water! That’s it! Sarif quickly runs out of the room and goes to the storage area where the holy water is kept. He cracks open the safe and grabs a bottle. His hand starts to burn. He ignores it. He has to save Adam! Running back to Adam, he drops to his knees and splashes some water on the side of the neck, now noticing the runes. They’re blue! No longer red. This is strange! It’s also not clotting the holes but healing them. What? How? The runes…they look different! They don’t look like Lucifer’s! Whose are they? No matter, Sarif turns Adam over on his side and keeps him that way incase he chokes on his own blood.

_Adam fires the TELSA. They go right into their chests, they scream, and then they laugh. His measly man made machine is no match against something out of this stasis world. “Great.”_

_Megan launches herself first at Adam. Grabbing the man by the front of his coat collar. “I will kill your mind where you stand!”_

_A blue barrier knocks her back into her companions. Adam looks ahead, they look weak. Enough to make them fade away. At least for the Malik and Pritchard clones. Megan’s looks like she can put up a little bit of a fight._

_Megan spits out, “You! Stay out of this! This is not your calling!” Megan roars out and charges towards Adam. The barrier sends her back, causing her to roll harshly backwards._

_Adam is thankful for the help. He doesn’t know who is, but he’ll take whatever he can get. He sits down on the ground to regain himself. He’s obviously no match for Lucifer in his own mind, but he can will himself to remain calm. Let the barrier and the sword that appears before him do its job. Wait, a sword? Adam touches the sword. His mind turns blue, and his body starts to glow white all around him. Taking this as an opportunity to stand up and rush forward._

_Megan lifts her hand up to block out the harsh light. “Father will see that you’re expelled like me!”_

_Adam plunges the sword into her heart. The body twitches, and the doppelganger is dropped. Lucifer’s true form appears. The one Adam saw earlier, but with scorched back wings. What the Hell? He’s not even a devil! He’s…really a fallen angel? Lucifer lets out a roar, grabbing the sword, and it instantly zaps him. He curses letting it go. He can’t escape! Adam pushes it forward more into the chest of the unholy angel. Lucifer lets out another hideous scream before he disappears from Adam’s mind._

_Adam falls forward on his knees, dropping the sword to the ground. It disappears and there lies a feather. He picks it up and examines it in between his fingertips. It dissolves into the air. How peculiar. Adam looks up to see a blue spotlight beaming down. He looks to where it’s located. He sees a lily. The same lily on the nightstand from last night! He picks it up, gives it a sniff, hearing the gentle humming of Michelle’s voice rocking him to sleep. Someone’s on his side, and its guiding him through this darkness with many different spotlights in a winding path. He follows._

_The end of it he sees Sarif leaning over his body, doing his best to keep him alive. He even went as far as to get extra limbs and a cart to make sure he can shock him back to life if he has to. What a shocker, Sarif is actually trying to do something noble. Too bad he sucks at it. Adam waves his hand off and turns his back on the road to the real world. The lily in his hand starts to grow brighter. It transforms into a locket. He opens it up and sees a mother hugging onto her teenage daughter. Adam recognizes these people. They’re Sarif’s relatives. He turns back to see he’s pouring more holy water on the runes. The locket starts to shake in his hand. A flashback hologram comes out of it._

_“Remember, Sarif, this experimentation with Jensen will be crucial. Don’t make any mistakes.” Page paces around him, with a glass of blood wine in his hand._

_“What makes you think I will?” Sarif moves his hands around him. He does this when he’s nervous. The screen in front of them is not helping his mood._

_Page stops in front of him. “Because I have special links to your family that I can have killed in any minute I tell one of their bodyguards to pull their gun out and shoot them.”_

_Page taps the side of his neural augment. The guard nods at the command and pulls a gun secretly out of his pocket when the people they’re supposed to be protecting are not looking. Sarif looks horrified and urges for Page to call the man off. Page is satisfied with that. He taps again, and the man goes back to in his original position. The screen returning to its normality._

_Sarif glares at the man. “You don’t need to put my family in jeopardy to make me do what you want, you know?”_

_“I like to have an insurance policy. You know that one very well.” Page sips his drink, and soon the two disappear back into the void._

_Adam looks at the place where another lily sits. He picks it up and watches the drops shine. “So what? You want me to take pity on Sarif because of his family? No one forced him to kill any of those people! He did this on his own to get to me! To make sure I don’t leave and that damn barrier! What’s his goal in all of this? Answer me! Who are you!?”_

_A church appears before him, the door is ajar. Adam knows this place too. He goes over to it, opening it up to see all the white lilies. So beautiful. There in the middle he sees a white robbed figure standing in the middle of the altar near a Eucharist and other religious symbols that seem to co-exist. What in the blazes is Adam seeing? He rubs his eyes to make sure he’s not dreaming. He starts to walk up to the altar, his mind’s body aged downwards. Soon he’s standing before the white robbed person. He’s seen him before, but he’s taller now? Or Adam has become shorter. When his death…when he nearly died. He kept telling him his time is not hear yet. He’s still has that beard, shaved sides, a comb over, and is smiling at him with a happy smile. The eyes look a little too white-blue for his liking. Like an angelic creature is standing before him._

_“Answer me! Who are you?!” Adam reaches out towards the creature in his tiny child voice; the figure disappears with a wave. Standing in his place is a short blonde hair man with a pity scowl on his face. Adam doesn’t want the pity. This one’s different from the one before him. This one just looks at him with those white wings spelled out and sword in hand. Wait…_

_“You’re the one who gave me the weapon I needed.” Adam steps back. He doesn’t want to believe this._

_The figure dangles his legs over where he’s sitting. Paying really no mind to the questions given to him. There’s nothing in this situation that warrants a reaction. The sword disappears out of his hand, and so does he. Leaving Adam alone in this thoughtless church to contemplate things that he didn’t understand. Sarif doesn’t deserve any ounce of pity for all the horrible things that man has said and done. What he deserves is a 1,000 suns worth of pain and suffering for every person he has killed._

_Jensen mumbles to himself, “And he’ll get it.” One way or another. Is that the old cliché? Adam sits down in a pew, leaning forward with his face in his hands. Rocking back and forth, trying to wrap his mind around everything that has happened. In the meantime, his mind is slowly healing itself. If he peaks outside, he can see the darkness and pale blue turn into a white color. Back into the original white void it truly needs to be. He didn’t even notice the figure before the white angel appear next to him._

_“You know you can wake up anytime you want.” The nice hair cut man is back. He waves to Adam with his hand and gives him another damn happy smile. This makes Adam uncomfortable and a bit unworthy of being in this man’s presence._

_“And you are?” Adam moves away. His presence makes him nervous, doesn’t understand why. Just being here makes him feel overwhelmed and unworthy._

_“Call me whatever you like!” The cheerful guy stood up, offered a hand to Adam to take; there’s much hesitation. “Come on! I promise I won’t bite!  After all, I am whom I am. I know I can be a bit overwhelming with being God and all. It’s just a title. Call me stranger if that makes you happy.”_

_Adam looks at the hand and back up at the person, down at the hand, back up at the person. He repeats this a few times till he decides to go against his skepticism and disbelief that this person is the creator of this planet and the entire universe, but if he is? What does Adam have left to lose now that he’s trapped inside his own mind? Nothing. He takes the hand, and instantly he feels his soul rise up in the air with the man following up with him. What kind of magic is this? He feels disconnected from all the bad things around him. This feels good. It feels nice. He feels like he’s one with himself and content being a child again._

_“You have to wake up now, son.” The man continues to smile and let’s go of Adam. “Wake up, Adam!”_

_You’re floating higher than ever, Adam, but you need to wake up!_

_Wake up!_

Adam jolts awake. He’s sitting straight up with Sarif patting him on his back trying to get him to stop coughing and breathe. Scourging around with his hands, Adam tries to imitate his hand movements to signal he wants water. Sarif gets it, but it’s not exactly water. He tilts the cup of blood up to his lips. Adam drinks it hungrily. Forgetting for a moment what he’s exactly drinking.  The taste is refreshing and makes the rawness in his throat dissipate.

“Oh, thank God you’re alive!” Sarif hugs Adam. He’s instantly met with a glass to his face. Sarif pulls back, touching his forehead where blood is coming out. Not a very nice way to greet the person that just saved his life.

Said person doesn’t care. “Fuck you, Sarif! You’re a murdering sadistic coward! You do this to protect your family? I am calling this set of lies! You dismembered my friends and danced all over the blood like some sicko from a horror movie!”

Sarif doesn’t stop Adam from grabbing him by the shirt. “You want me to apologize? Because I am not! It’s part of being a vampire, Adam! I enjoy doing these things, because I can’t help it! Murdering people is in our blood!”

“Your blood, Sarif! Not mine!” Adam throws him back down and stands up. A little dizzy from the whole ordeal. “I have nothing more to say to you.”

No thank you? Well, thanks Adam! Sarif sighs to himself and gets up. He looks at the entire bathroom floor to see how much damage has been done, which is a lot. This looks like a murder scene! With the culprit being in the form of some biblical figure that no one would believe! Another sigh. What can Sarif even do to please Adam and not worry about some disgruntled nanobot ridden ego man known as Bob Page? Speaking of Page, Sarif’s phone goes off. Funny, he thought he had the ringer turned off.

“Yes, what is it?” Sarif rubs the middle of his forehead.

_I expected you at this church an hour ago, Sarif. The barrier is already in place, minus the main pathway. What is the delay? I don’t have the time to wait around all day._

“Ran into some complications here at the manor. I will bring Adam over there shortly. Just don’t go touching any holy water or setting your eyes on that building. You might burn it down with your pretty looks.” Sarif is not in the mood to deal with Page’s shit right now. He lets him know that, drastically. He can do this because Sarif is the one holding all the chips right now, and if Page wants Adam all in one piece, he’ll be quiet and accept this minor delay.

_You listen to me right now, Sarif. I will not hesitate to throw you through the barrier myself when Jensen is through it and sealed off. I know that will hurt you. You’ll burn alive till your heart is tainted by pure unholy demonic power that not even you can control. How do you think your suffering will feel like?_

“Page, I don’t think you can even begin to imagine why Adam’s blood is mixing badly with this high strand of fuckery you have created.” Sarif motions with his hand for Adam to follow him and gives him a glare that says he better or there will be consequences. Not that Adam can’t put up a fight, but they both doubt that Page won’t try something. None of them know if they can handle _The Shrouded._

_Our DNA evolves with our genetics. This is just one strand we can’t comprehend. I’ve told you this many time before, David. Our Biology is complex, and we must understand how certain earthly elements mix with the blood of our own bodies._

“You’re really not going to start believing in the devil, are you?” Sarif takes Adam to another part of the house where nothing is bloodied up. Adam takes this as a gesture to take a shower. He does, and his ex-boss his leaning against the counter with his own blood-soaked clothes still on, watching him. Guess he wants a show till he can get himself in the shower.

_Lucifer is just a thing and human made concept our species have developed over time. He’s just like any other human with an advance genetic code. The first vampire of our species! The first step evolution decided to take away from the insubordinate naturals!_

Sarif doesn’t argue with him anymore. He’s fixated on the steamy shower door in front of him. Watching Adam run the soap on the back of his shoulder, down his sides, his legs, over his ass, and…he stops. He’s done washing his body and moves to his hair. Rubbing his alloyed fingers through that black mane of his that can be a pain when it doesn’t slick back the way it needs to. Sarif enjoys watching this. He’s loosening his collar and starting to get undressed, not fully. His impatience causes him to leave his blood covered shirt on. Completely ignoring Page’s rant about how humans should be separated into groups based on their coding.

_-And another thing, we need to go over the list of experiments and Jensen’s trial at the church. Make sure he doesn’t touch anything that would damage his augmentations. What do you have in mind as far as the feeding goes? I can send some prey over at one point for you two and the dog to eat. What you think? Sarif? Are you listening?_

Sarif knocks his phone off the counter with the belt he threw behind him. He doesn’t care if Page is starting to scream on the other line about being ignored or the fact that he might just end up being a burnt crisp by a modified celestial electrical fence. He just wants to get in that shower and wash Adam’s back. That gorgeous back of his is dripping down the remnant of shampoo and conditioner. He can’t help himself. He wants to touch it. He wants to feel. Slowly he lays his hands on the back of Adam’s smooth shoulders. Giving them a light rub.

Adam stops what he’s doing. He turns to the side to see Sarif’s hand come around to his chin, tilting it back with the tips of his fingers. This shouldn’t be allowed. Murderous hands making down Adam’s throat, over one of his crossbars, pushing down on it as if it were some kind of start button. That’s insulting. Adam takes his hand and bats away Sarif’s. He doesn’t want the augmented man touching him, and he really needs to get out of his shower. The amusement in Sarif’s eyes didn’t linger. He touches Adam’s shoulders, rubbing soothing circles around the ports that hold Adam’s carbon in place. Just a kiss, one kiss on them, with teeth doing the trick. Adam is putty in Sarif’s hands, grabbing onto one hand and the other leaning against the wall in front of him. There’s nothing Adam could do. Not that he wants to stop him.

The bit is turning intoxicating. Adam’s eyes want to roll back in his head, and his mouth won’t stop opening and closing. He needs to get a grip of himself, ignore Sarif’s wandering hands down his ribs. They stop at the hip augment. Adam’s unsure where Sarif is going to take his hands next. He tries to get out of the older man’s grasp, but the scent coming from man is proving to be quite a challenge. Biting his lip, he takes his hand that’s following Sarif’s and pushes the man off him at full force, causing the Sarif to stumble out of the shower. Adam turns around to face his assailant. Adam’s face does not falter when he places a gleeful smirk on his lips.

Sarif stands up, rubbing his sore behind. “Jesus, Adam! My butt is not augmented like yours and can easily break with the amount of force your strength augmentation gives off. Don’t get me started on vampire strength-“

_DAVID! I SWEAR TO THE VOID I AM COMING OVER AND SHOW YOU SOME DISCIPLINE! YOU DON’T IGNORE THE ONLY PERSON ABOVE YOU! YOUR GENETICALLY MODIFIED “VAMPIRE” KING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? I DON’T CARE WHO YOU’RE TAKING FROM BEHIND! I WANT-_

Click. Sarif rubs the temple of his forehead. Page sure did know how to ruin a good moment. He can be a handful and go way out of character when things take a foul turn from his plate. Sighing, Sarif leans against the sink, looking down at his apparent boner. Damn Jensen for leaving him with a rush of good blood and a raging hard on to boot. Sarif is about to say how bad the situation is when he hears barking. He forgot about Kubrick. The dog comes rushing in at an angry pace, growling at Sarif. Sarif has to get out of the dogs reach before he becomes a bloody chew toy.

“Down! Down, boy!” Sarif sits on top of the sink with his legs cooped up to his chest. Kubrick has his paws against the round part. Trying to gnash at Sarif’s ankles. Thankfully the sink is not the average height, or the dog would be on top of him by now.

Adam gets out of the shower, towel in hand, and drying his hair. The tasseled mess swings in all sides. Not even paying attention to the mess taking in place before him. There are more important things to worry about than a demonic bite to an already pseudo-demon. Going back out, he sees the maid has just finished laying out his clothes for the day. He picks up the underwear first. Firm, nicely cut, and will fit snug against his privates. He puts them on, and pulls the bands out, letting them snap back into place.

The maid is blushing at the sight before him. She didn’t exactly leave and couldn’t help but take in the beautiful man. Not that she could. Sarif ordered her to stay here until Adam is fully clothed. She’s not sure why, but the man…he’s getting her tipsy. She sits down on the bed behind her, feeling a bit light headed. She can hear a bit of barking in the background and a muffled voice coming from Adam asking her if she’s ok. She ends up passing out on the bed.

“Hey!” Adam examines her. No signs of trauma or any bites. She simply fainted from the mere sight of him. Adam knew he’s a lady’s man, but he didn’t think women were being literally swept off their feet because of him.

Kubrick runs into the room to check on the lady, forgetting about Sarif. He sniffs her hand that’s hanging loosely over the bed. She smells nice and tasty! He licks her hand. Salty too! Kubrick bares his teeth out, opens them up, and…chomps on thin air. Adam had moved Kubrick out of the room before he could even get a tasty bite. Lying down, he whines at his owner. He’s going to pretend he’s sorry, so he doesn’t get locked out again. Adam ignores him and locks the door behind him.

Sarif emerges from the bathroom, a bit shaken. “Your dog tried to bite my feet off! Take the reigns on him Adam or I will do it for you!”

Adam glares at Sarif, clenching his fists in his hands. “You brought her over for us to eat, didn’t you?”

Sarif looks behind him to see the unconscious girl. He looks just as confused as she used to be. “I didn’t order her here. I don’t even know why she’s here to start with, so I made her useful!”  
  
“Why should I believe you? You’ve done nothing but hurt me!” Adam goes over to Sarif and grabs him by the front of his collar. He’s ready to shake the demon out of him and maybe punch him around a few times for setting up something this sadistic…again! If Sarif starts to trample all over her blood, there will be Hell to pay. Adam will make sure Sarif gets a real taste of Hell!

Sarif looks over to the maid. When did he hire her? He steadily checks her out and pokes her carefully with his pointer finger. She’s not budging. Hearing a growl he moves away quickly before Adam decides to unleash his promised Hell upon him. He’s unable to afford anymore time wasting or delays as it is, so where did this girl even come from?

“Look, Adam, I am telling you the truth! Use your CASIE if you must!” Sarif holds his arms out in a fashion to show he’s surrendered his mind.

Adam feels a bit unconvinced. No signs of ant elevated heartbeat or blood pressure, or that could be a ruse. Vampires aren’t exactly alive. The only determinant even remotely visible is that Sarif is mad and confused. Other than that? There’s no evidence to suggest that lying has no possibility for the equation. Adam is sure that Sarif realizes this when no other words are being shared between the two. Maybe an arm blade extraction will change a few minds?

“Woah! Woah! Really, Adam!” Sarif pulls out a call through his I-Link to get in touch with someone to come remove this woman and take her home. Before he can get that in the lady shoots up straight and starts screaming, startling the two men in the room.

Sarif pulls Adam back before he has a chance to reach out to her. “Not the time, son! We need to get out of here!”

The windows start to shatter. The ground is shaking below them. Cursing to himself, Sarif drags the shellshock Adam from the mansion, while whistling for Kubrick to follow. Turning back behind them they see the woman go through the roof, causing a large holes to ripple behind her. People are floating behind her, all crying out in pain, begging for help. Adam covers his ears and closes his eyes. He doesn’t know if he can help them. Where did these people come from?

“Watch out!” Sarif pushes Adam out of the way. An incoming projectile made from some red ruby is aiming at Adam’s head.

Oh God! The blood spears are coming from the people! The woman is extracting blood from the open pores in their bodies and using that as her weapon! Who is she?! Adam tries to get a scan on her. Any information from her blood pressure or heartbeat that could give him any indicator what kind of personality she has. Nothing pops up. He’s reading “ERROR! ERROR!” in all parts of his system! Next thing he knows is blackness as he’s knocked out cold from the blunt of one of the spear edges. Sarif curses to himself and drags Adam’s body behind cover.

The maid’s appearance starts to change. Her hair growing past her shoulders and turning into a sleek light brown of curls. Eyes following suit with a vicious brown color. She’s laughing and spewing out hatred of their time is going to come! Maybe not now but later! Way later down the road where Sarif and the rest of the world is long dead! Another laughter! She sniffs the blood around her. She waves her hand; the bodies start floating upwards again. She’s enjoying their pain and twisted limbs!

“We’ll meet again, Sarif and Jensen!” Then she’s gone. Disappeared along with the bodies back to the hole she came out of, and Sarif has a damn good idea where based on that smile. For that looked like the Shrouded leader he saw injecting that drug into Jensen from the operation. What is she playing at?

In times like these Sarif wishes he had just a little bit of help. He doesn’t trust Bob. Not anymore after that woman showing up trying to bait them all. He’s still doesn’t know where those humans came from. He doesn’t even feel sorrow for them. Using people for one’s own meat shield purposes doesn’t go past surprising or abnormal. Being alive long enough puts a damper on moods that are supposed to be not normal. What is normal in the vampire world anyways? Nothing that Sarif knows.

Not that he needs to think about it. He has a heavy aug, that doesn’t look like he’s going to wake up anytime soon, to worry about. Sighing, Sarif picks up Adam, throws him over his shoulder, and starts to walk to the church with Kubrick following close behind them. Sarif didn’t want it to end like this. He wanted to pack fresh clothes, hygiene products, and maybe a shower, but it be too risky to go back to the mansion now. Things are boobytrapped enough as it is there. Going back would be vampire suicide.

“You’re in good hands now, Adam. I’ll make sure they don’t take you away.” Sarif makes promises out loud that he knows he really can’t keep, but his own mind is calm. A false state of security is good every now and then. Helps clear his head, and in a few short paces Sarif has made up his mind.

He’s not going to run experiments on Adam. Instead, they’re going to take down Page and the fucking temple ran by that woman. They’ll succeed. They have too. For their survival’s sake and the world’s.

The weight of the world is counting on them.


	5. Cathedral of Scars - Part 5 - David Sarif/Adam Jensen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why do we sit here and try to understand their pasts? Their paths they're walking right now are not filled with good intentions of fortune and gold. It's deathly. It's lethal. It's...clarity...but for who and at what cost? Not for you or them. There will be no clarity for the wicked and divine.

A flash and blur appear behind the man known as Bob Page. He seems to pay no mind to the figure. He’s too busy concentrating on the cigarette in between his finger trips, eyes arch downwards, unconvinced with everything that’s going on. Licking the tip of his fangs with his tongue, he makes a few drops of blood appear, feeds off it, hoping for something to click, anything. Nothing does. He shamelessly puts the bud out in the tray next to his keyboard. Turning his head, he looks to see that the woman from the earlier attack at Sarif’s mansion standing behind him with a smirk and flicking her vicious curls to the side.  She walks up to him, places her hands over his shoulders, leaning in close to his ear to kiss it.

“That’s enough.” Page pries the woman’s hands off him and straightens his lapel, noticing some blood in the shape of finger prints staining his tie. He’s not pleased with this turn out and doesn’t need any sort of insignificant human life tainting one of his good suits.

The woman frowns at Page. Such a child this man acts towards her. How thankful she may be for freeing her from her own mind, she will not tolerate his barbaric treatment. “You should be more thankful towards me.”

Page is aware of all the “help” that she has brought upon him. Turning to his computer, he types in a few commands, sits back, and watches the cells on the monitors above him. Inside each one is an adult prisoner tied to a bed with, screaming as their blood is being pumped dry. Thanks to her reckless use of her powers, the vampire blood seeped into these worthless humans! Nobody needs helpless homeless people to run the streets at night, drinking out the competition. Only the elite and well-classed get to be a part of this future vampire-run apocalypse. Glaring at her, he turns off the monitors.

“You need to be more careful. These people are food not some two-bit fake fallen angel and vampire hybrid!” Or whatever she is. Before she came on board, she ended up on the streets, with shredded black wings, and crying out for some savior. Page didn’t understand what drew himself to her. Maybe it’s the scent of potential? Revenge? A way to get rid of the blasted one that calls himself the devil? He slams his fist on the desk, it leaves a dent of the side of his hand.

She stands up straight, glaring at her creator. She didn’t ask for this sort of treatment or abuse. She went under trials and trials of hurtful transformations! From a hideous low-level mutated vampire made of nothing but bones and macabre to a beautiful vampire with long curls, piercing beautiful eyes, and a kick that would send any angel or vampire back to where they came from. In fact, she’s been looking forward to getting her hands on Gabriel. That angel is the one who wanted her cast out, not anyone else! She clenches her fist, thinks about what happened that day up there where Hell reigns.

_Gabriel is by the crystal-clear lake. The one where the reflection of any creature’s soul spits out the most hateful and loveable desires. His is showing him an image of Sarif and Adam, together. Walking along the snow trying to get to their temple. The other is Sarif and Adam sitting in a pew, looking over each other’s wounds, flowers are dancing all over them. They’re comforting each other, kissing, holding hands, and telling one another that everything’s going to be ok. Then Sarif closes his eyes for good. So, what’s the problem? Gabriel doesn’t know which one he wants to happen. He knows this isn’t his story to tell, and he sees two possible futures: Sarif’s death or escape. Maybe Gabriel is looking into the eyes of another? He’s indifferent, father is not. That’s why he’s tasked with these two souls. No biased._

_“Are you looking into the reflection again? You know you won’t find any answers with this worthless water that father likes.” She bats at the sparkling water, it burns her hand. Hissing she pulls away, sucking on the crystalized blister on the tips of her fingers._

_“Delara, you know you’re forbidden from placing your hands in this lake.” Gabriel moves away from the precious water. It’s father’s personal meditation area that he leaves open for all his angelic children. There’s only one rule: do not touch the water. Within the right, because the lake is so pure and celestial that the universe runs off it. Without father’s own tears there would be no Earth and stars. Just blackness for father to sit in and ponder how to restart life all over again._

_She pays him no mind. His white wings stretch out, wanting to get a few flights in till she’s assigned a meaningless task to a human she has no intentions of fulfilling their dreams. She’s been slacking on her angelic duties to humans as of lately. Angels such as herself, feel gleeful and joy when they get to make some child’s day better. She’s not. Her last assignment fucked her over completely. The greater angels that guard father at his throne in the glass castle came to her personally and gave her a warning: she screws this next assignment up with her carelessness she will be cast out. Their six wings on each of them shadowing over her, their long staffs pointing at her, and that day, she knew no fear._

_Safe to say Delara didn’t take in their warning. A boy and his dog she had to watch over. The basic needs, of course. Making sure he doesn’t get run over by a car, being bullied by the neighbor’s cat, and keep the damn ball from being thrown over the fence. How boring. She sits on the swing, using a nail file to make sure she can’t accidentally scratch anyone, not even paying attention to her assignment. Next thing she sees is the boy looking at her, holding out a ball, and she’s astonished. Looking behind her, she makes sure it’s not another child that’s come over to play, it’s not._

_“You can see me?” Delara points to herself. Can he hear her talk too?_

_The boy nods with a smile. This isn’t allowed. She starts to panic, and quickly gets out of the swing. She takes to the air, looks around for a safe place to open a portal back to God’s Heaven, failing to notice a man with a bottle of booze come up behind the boy and hit him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. His soul turns into a ball of light and goes to find a new mother to make happy, leaving behind the old one to grieve over. The list never said anything about drunk dads. God didn’t see it that way. He personally called Delara to his throne room, and if anyone had first hand at God’s wrath, this is it._

_Delara’s hands are shaking with fear and anger. Not at the stupid boy for having angel’s sight, but at her father for allowing such a high responsibility to fall on her shoulders to start with. She goes to speak but is silenced by the guards who hold their staffs to her. She has nothing to say to these lap dogs. She feels angry, defeat, and scorn rush through her blue blood. She wants to hit them and wipe their looks off their face! One seems to notice this and taunts her by swirling the staff, appearing behind her, hitting her in the back of the neck, causing a rune to burn into her skin. She claws at it, trying to get it off. It wouldn’t heal on its own, and everyone inside is judging her, including her father who is giving her…a sad look? No! She will not be pitied by such a stranger!_

_The imperial angel goes to strike again, but God holds up his hand, whisking the staff out of the others hands. “That’s enough. We don’t harm family.”_

_Delara wants to oust the hypocrisy in his voice. Family? Who the Hell here thinks they’re all family? Everyone wants to grab each other by their throats, and wage war with lesser and greater angels! Father says everyone has a purpose in this universe, but what is hers? To guard little boys from their alcoholic step-dads? How come no one even told her about him? She would have blasted him out of existence! Even if it’s against the rules to harm a creation! Where does the double standard end? How can they be guardian angels to these children? There’s no saving them from themselves! Maybe a cat or a dog is a better protector? At least they can scratch and bite!_

_“Delara, you have a lot of anger and hatred towards me, your brothers, and sisters here.” God stands up, giving the staff back to the guard. Smiling, he walks up to her, placing a hand gently on the back of her neck, healing the rune that didn’t need to be made. Removing his hand afterwards, he steps back, hands behind his back. The comb over brown hair is swishing against his shaved sides with intensity. The wind is moving his beard, and they’re teleported out of the castle and to the reflection pool._

_Delara sees where there are. Just them. No Gabriel or anyone else. This makes things easier when it’s just them two. She looks down at the lake, seeing a few species of fish swim, she’s never seen them before. God stands next to her and starts telling her about how life here in this lake is made up of many planets across the human realm’s universe. Each fish has a name: Earth, Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, Thebe, Titan, Io, Elara…one that God named her with the D in front to make it unique to his children. Delara looks away from the fish. They’re ugly to her. Each color represents the surface of said moons and planets. She wonders when the Earth Koi will turn into a nasty garbage color with the way humans destroy the very thing father created._

_God looks at her, frowns, and looks away, at the forest behind them. Each tree sparking am ashy-gray color, almost as if winter’s tears stained whatever remained. She doesn’t look with him. She crosses her arms; the snob look leads her astray. Is this how Lucifer felt when father casted him down to Earth? A barren land he just made? Only for him to tempt the first species he created? Surely, even God has a heart, or is the man-made words spouting out the knowledge of God true? She’s been in his personal library on Earth before. Only angels can access it. Humans can’t even see it. It’s fortified by the **Tree of Eden**. She remembers visiting it once. Studying the books that cats would bring to the library all the time. A book from every time period ever created, even it’s not true fills up the endless library. Fireflies and moss are hanging over the bookshelves, napping cats on top who don’t want to do their job. _

_The place is beautiful. Right smack in the middle is the tree, surrounded by golden and silver shining flowers that light the whole place. However, no one can get too close to it as its guarded by a golden viper. See, the tree is not just a light source, but also holds the forbidden fruit that no one can touch ever again. Strange thing for father to leave guarding at such a place. This didn’t stop her from accomplishing what she wanted to know. She furthered into the library, past the parchment papers and cave stories of the first print by cavemen and any other Neanderthal, all the way to digital tablets about augmentations. The library really is a sight to behold. She wishes she could stay here for an eternity, study up on the human evolution of the psyche. Till she received a call to come back to Heaven from Gabriel. Apparently, she spent way too much time in there that a full decade had past._

_Dying in a library seems like a dream. She closes her eyes, thinks back to the cats attacking her hair curls. Smiling, she remembers giggling, having fun, and petting them all. Even sneaking in human made cat treats and food. Anything to make them happy, even if it’s forbidden due to how unhealthy those earthly monstrosities can be. They even grew to like cat nip! Their little cat wings would spread out, tuck under the tummies, and they would roll all up in it. The one time she wishes she brought in the human invention of the camera. All of them were playing, having fun, and giving the snake a hard time. She did feel a bit bad for the serpent. It’s only doing its own job. Still, all good things must come to an end when bad things start taking its place. Opening her eyes, she stares into her own reflection. She’s running through a back alley, escaping someone of something. She never figured out who it could’ve been. She just remembers winding up in the arms of Robert Page, CEO of **Versalife** , and the current Vampire King to all living vampires under Lucifer’s rule. _

_God places a hand on her shoulder. “This will be your fate if you don’t change your course. The boy’s life is tragic, but I am no stranger of mercy. I give everyone as many chances I can possibly give, my daughter.”_

_Delara doesn’t like him touching her shoulder, she slaps it away, a tingling sensation is sent through her finger tips, their healed now…fully…no pain. There’s nothing there! Just her hand shining as if she received a brand-new attachment! She’s thankful for the heal, but she’s not going to express it to him out loud. She places her arms over her chest, looks doubtful, and wonders what kind of Hell she must create to even receive this kind of ending for her. She turns to look back at her father. That damn quirky smile and arched upwards eyebrow doesn’t relent, he just laughs as if this is something that can be easily forgotten with smiles and cheers. She’s not stupid. She knows what kind of things this man is capable of. Not easily fooled this angel is, or the fact that she’s already fooling herself._

_“Delara! You think so little of this situation. Do you really want to go to Earth to be with the vampire? I can tell you that nothing good will come out of this, and you won’t be able to read in the library ever again.” Sadness appears on God’s face. It’s true. Fallen angels wouldn’t have access to such treasures or be able to play with these angelic flying cats ever again. Not a sacrifice she wants to risk, but is he really offering her to go back to the library? Is this what humans mean by “God’s Wrath”? Just a wrath of kindness and sorrow? What kind of creator is that? He’s almost liked an innocent child trapped in a grown man’s body. She knows this isn’t the case. He thinks he’s pure, but allows humanity to suffer…_

_Delara tithes. She doesn’t care for this falsehood. She pushes her Father away, ignoring whatever tingles that flow through her arm. She’s angry! She slaps him hard across the face, he doesn’t even flinch. He’s shocked but doesn’t hit her back. This pisses her off more. She slaps him again and again, wanting a reaction out of him! She gets none! Infuriating! She takes her fists, bangs him on his chest, kicks him in the knee caps, ruins his suit, and shoves him in the lake. She instantly regrets doing that. He comes out of the lake with indifference across his face. He’s wet and down on one knee. She can see the tears of sorrow, his and the lakes tears streaming down. Next thing she knows she’s falling to Earth._

_The landing hits her hard in an open dumpster. She instantly gets out, coughing and gasping for air. She feels like she’s drowning, not even noticing a semi-bulky man with brown hair and a beard speaking in an accent that sounds British. Is she in England? Stereotypical, but she can barely make out their faces. They don’t appear to be vampires but something else entirely. Their fangs are growing, no, their canines are growing. Shit! She quickly scrambles out and runs down the alleyway. She doesn’t know where she’s going! She just knows she must get away from these dogs!_

_The leader speaks up. “Oh! Boys! We have a fine tasty treat of stripped angel meat!”_

_One of his lackies looks up ahead. “John! Stop! That Page vampire is up ahead!”_

_John and his pack stop. They see the woman run straight into Page’s arms. How convenient he steps in to take their kill. He’s even stroking the broken wings and saying smooth and calming words to her. Pathetic but even he knows not to mess with one of Lucifer’s top agents. He waves them off and he disappears over the fence with the others. They’ll get their treat one day. For now, they must wait patiently._

_Delara is shaken up, and hugging Page, telling him about all the awful things she just went through! Slapping God into his own tears, wanting to stab a guard, and the worse one of them all: she misses the library with her cats! Page does his best to soothe the broken woman. He brings her back to his place and gets her a fresh pair of clothes with holes cut in the back for her decaying wings. She starts to cry when she sees each feather floating off with every movement she makes. She hates this! She wants everything to rewind and apologize to father for laying a hand on him! She’ll even take Gabriel’s looks if it means she can be free again!_

_Page returns with a book in his hand. “I know you’re going through a lot, but all the fallen angels of your kind that I have met go insane within a few hours or days after falling from grace.”_

_“There…there really are more like me?” She watches Page open the book and examine some dark runes. She’s never seen these before. Only heard stories from her siblings that talk about Lucifer’s demon book. It’s what made vampires to start with. How did this vampire get his hands on it?_

_“Yes. They’ve all been experimented on and genetically altered to look like vampires through my venom and their own decrypted blood.” Page feels around his fangs with his fingers, as if he’s testing them to see if they’re suitable for the feast before him._

_Suddenly, she felt the need to quickly get out of here! Quickly getting up she goes to the door behind her, leaving behind a trail of black feathers. Page quickly stands in front of her, hand held outstretched. She’s confused. She doesn’t trust it, she doesn’t take it. She backs away from him, weakly putting up her fists. If she must fight her way out, she will! Page finds this adorable. He walks up to her, gently lowers her fists, and tells her he’s not here to do her any harm, only to make her an offer. He steps away, and offers the woman a seat next to him, hand outstretched like a gentleman. She refuses and remains standing. Page shrugs at this. Suit herself._

_Page picks up a bottle of blood wine. It’s nicely aged and will make this talk go over a bit smoothly. Licking his lips, he pops off the cork and pours some in two glasses. Not offering the second one to Delara as she has no need for blood. Not yet anyways. The second glass sits there, being used as symbolism for what’s going to happen. For now, Page sits  in his chair, one arm resting, and his legs are cross legged. He’s thinking about something. He rubs his chin, staring at the glass. Why doesn’t he just drink the damn thing already?_

_“Are you just going to stand there and wait till I say something?” Delara moves over next to Page. “I don’t even know your name. Just that you’re some vile vampire scum.”_

_Wrong words to say to the savior. Page is instantly on his feet, pinning the fallen angel to the wall. The last of her feathers fall off, skin and bones remain on her back. Soon those will fall off too, sooner if Page keeps putting all his weight against Delara’s chest. Regardless, this scares her. She closes her eyes and waits for the deadly bite to her neck to come. It doesn’t, it gets wore. She opens them to see Page’s fangs fully extend outwards and sink into her wrist. Gently sucking on the veins there. It didn’t hurt. Why doesn’t this hurt? She feels almost a calm and sincere pleasure. Is she going to die from this? She hasn’t yet from the cushioned fall, so how does this dying comfort make any difference? He pulls away from her and spits the blood into a bowl. It’s crystal blue. How? Why is her blood not impure?_

_“Someone really cares about you.” Page goes up to her neck and takes a bite. Sinking his fangs into her skin, pulsating the venom through her veins._

_This didn’t feel good. She starts screaming out in pain, trying to break her hands free from Page’s grip. He applies more pressure, cracking the wall behind him. He knows the fallen can take it, they always have when they disobey their superiors and get flung down to Earth like they’re worse than a sack of shit. However, this one’s blood is proving to be absolutely thrilling! He keeps pumping more into her, till she’s unconscious. Good. This makes things easier. He pulls his fangs out of her, and brings her into the bedroom, laying her down on her stomach. He doesn’t want her to suffocate under her own bones. Looking down at the wing bones he notices the skin is falling off around the stumps, and the bones are turning into a pitch black. Good. The effects of his creation are starting to take its place. Moving to sit down in the chair, he stares. Watching her fall into a grace she can’t get out of._

_And this is where the deals of her pure celestial blood start their story._

“My blood is no longer that of an angel.” Delara sits down in the chair next to him. She turns the monitors back on and sees that all the humans are dead. Good riddance. Let the people of their Heaven fill up faster with these roaches. Soon, they’ll have enough blood from that strange one known as Adam Jensen that they will have no need for anymore life on this planet. Everything will be duplicated with heavenly power. That is, if Page stops thinking that everything is a science. She’s surprised that he even believes that angels can fall out of the sky. She’s been meaning to ask him about that.

Page snaps his fingers. A waiter brings him the same bottle of blood whisky from the first time they met and two glasses. This time he shares one with her. She takes it, takes a sip out of it, and enjoys the flavor. Almost as good as that real bloody Mary she had from the bar last week. Too bad she had to tear it down to make it a hangout for their kind. Should’ve kept the vampire bartender around, but Page saw him as unworthy and murdered him on the spot. How rude of him. She even promised the guy he would live if he made the real thing. The look of betrayal on his face didn’t leave her skin uncradled. The next few words he said reminded her to always watch her back now that the guy from the alleyway knows where she lives.

_“Trent is going to be your own worst enemy. There’s a reason he does no business with vampires.” The bartender laughs as his face is being burned._

Delara learned that day that there are far more eviler things outside of vampires and angels. She brought it up to Bob that day, and he assured her that the filthy moon howlers will not get to them. They won’t even touch him with how powerful he is. Delara isn’t so certain. Werewolves? There are mentions of these creatures in the library on Earth, but they’re just a myth? Not really that farfetched when your own angelic species is not supported by humans, and everyone thinks the universe is ran by some sky fairy. She’s always found offense to that. It’s not her fault that father wanted to keep their species hidden. Things are starting to happen more and more. Children can see them, dog demons are being created, and werewolves are ready to sink their teeth into their shins! Does this thing ever end?

“I believe magic and science can co-exist. After all, magic is just a science we haven’t learned about.” Page takes a sip of his drink. “It’s why augmentations and God like energy can co-exist. If God made it then it can be created.”

A thought that’s really never crossed her mind. God is responsible for the creation of all kinds of earthly metal and satellites. Offer the madness and certainly a madman will take it, create it, and then destroy it under their own two hands. Wars, Power, Greed, and other sins are the reason why certain emotions exist within human souls. Delara remembers telling God to stop letting people think for themselves and put a damper on all this abuse to people and animals all the way to torture and cruelty. He just smiled his usual smile at her and told her that things don’t work that way. They can’t or they won’t? No more hunger, wars, cruelty, gluttony, and there will only be happiness, adoption, growth, and harmony. Even yin and yang can co-exist without being there.

_God hangs his head. “That would make me a mad creator. I don’t dangle the puppet strings of my creations. No matter how much it hurts.”_

Delara moves the empty glass around in her finger tips. Curious what Page is going to do with the corpses now they they’re bled dry. “I say we throw them in the furnace with the others. Their blood is no good to us.”

“I want to study them.” Page turns when he hears the door open. There are two plates with covers on them. Good. Dinner is here. Each plate sits in front of them. He picks the top off and smiles. It’s nice to see that Megan Reed’s head didn’t decay with being out in the cold for this long period of time. Even in the freezer and a science experiment. The irony still doesn’t die that the scientist is using itself for its own feistily experiment. This delights Bob, and he can’t wait to sink his teeth into it.

Delara looks away from the plate. She goes to her’s, peeks under it, and is shocked to see who it is. It’s one of the pack members from Trent’s family. This is a bad sign. If Delara remembers anything about her readings is that werewolves take the killing of one of their own very personally. She starts to shake, and wonder what the Hell Page is thinking? Much less revenge, but can she even drink the blood without turning into some half breed herself? This feels repulsive. She replaced the lid and pushes the cart away. She has no appetite.

“There’s no need to act like a virgin, Delara. We eat this stuff all the time.” He’s teasing her.

_“Please, call me Bob.” Page takes Delara’s hand into hers and leads her to the feeding chamber._

_The first time she’s ever been in here. There are people shackled against the wall. Unconscious and look like they could die any day now. How long have they been in here? She covers her mouth and takes a step back. Losing her balance now that she doesn’t have her wings to help keep her from vertigo. This is barbaric! She understands the part about fresh blood, but this is too much! She wants to kill them all to put them out of her misery._

_“Feed on them all if it makes you feel better.” Page waves her off and takes his leave. Locking the door behind him._

_Delara turns around and bangs on the door. Screaming at him to let her out. He’s long gone by then. She turns back to the people turned to food. They’re starting to wake up, all looking up at Delara with their zombie like expressions, pleading for her to end their life. She sits down, covers her ears, and closes her eyes. Completely ignoring their cries. She can’t do this! She can’t…_

_After a few days of starvation later, she changed her mind when Page finds her licking her wrist like a cat trying to clean the canary’s blood off its paw._

“But this is an animal. Our Biology can’t stomach this.” Delara squints at the plate. She failed to notice the vile next to it. She picks it up and examines it. It’s clear, as if there’s nothing inside of it.

“Put it on the middle of the forehead. You’ll find the leftover blood there to be scrumptious!” Page speaks from experience. Of course he would. Why wouldn’t he? He’s tried experiments on himself before, and no one seemed surprised by that!

Delara does as she’s told. She drops a few on the middle. Blood starts to pour out from a wound. It’s not red, it’s not blue, but…yellow? What’s going on here? Why’s the blood yellow? She dips her finger in it and gives it a taste. It tastes like…spaghetti with meatballs and marinara sauce? How does she know that? She’s never had human food before, just wine, and even that is not good to her. She goes back for seconds, biting into the head. Tasting every drop she can gather. She’s enjoying herself and not ashamed to get messy. This is her fill, and no one can take it from her.

Page smirks with glee. He’s satisfied that this experiment of his is going well. The whole point of this is to turn people and their enemies’ blood into a taste that humans would eat and not get sick from it. This is the first time he’s tried it with someone else. He wants to ask her what food it is, but the looks she’s giving the morsel? Doesn’t seem he’ll be getting an answer any time soon. Sitting back, he shrugs, and cuts into Megan’s head, watching the yellow blood spill out. Wonder what his will taste like?

While Page is thinking about that, Sarif is helping Adam to a familiar church. It’s snowing, and he’ll be damned If a blizzard wants to stop their progress! He places a hand in front of his face, hoping he can see a bit more. It’s all futile. There’s just too much snow, and too many trees. He leans against one, dropping to his knees. Shit. He looks down at Adam to see he’s wearied himself. He takes the vampire into his arms, hoping to put some heat into those augmentations. It works but barely. He’s not a completely heartless and cold monster. Also helps that he has less augmentations than Adam does.

“Hang in there, Adam.” Sarif kisses the top of his head. Ignoring the stink eye he’s giving him. If they get out of this without Page killing them, then that will be a miracle. One Hell of a miracle needs to happen. Right now, no one is going to get out of this unfrozen. Serves Sarif right. Laughing, Sarif closes his eyes. His mind is instantly filled with a dream he long forgotten.

_David Sarif Is sitting down on the bed in his hotel room. Tie coming off and air conditioning coming on. Things have been crazy for him since the change, personally done by one Robert Page. Right in the middle of the so-called charity auction to those in need, everyone clapped and whistled. His body laid dipped in Page’s arms as fangs sunk into his neck. Sarif’s never felt such an agonizing pain. His old life fell underneath him and a new one rose from the ashes and out of the body of the worst person on the planet. He even danced with him! Sneering the whole time, calling him disgusting things, and only doing this because he forced his hand. His hand in what? Sarif stares down at his hand that sports a broken finger. Page made his claim alright._

_His hand in what? Sarif can’t stop repeating the sentence in his head. He’s only recently discovered somethings in the augmented universe. Darrow being behind him the whole time, hand in his, encouraging him forward with their discoveries. No, this Darrow is only an illusion Sarif felt. At one point he did love the man, more than anything in the world, but he passed away with bitterness and hatred in his heart. Sarif suddenly felt his heart break again. Feeling numb and hopeless to those around him. His employees giving him soft looks and one even gave him homemade cookies. He never pegged Malik to be the baking type. He appreciated everything she did for him to make his heart open to the world again. Being around such kind people…_

_…Then he killed them all in a way that God would cast his wrath upon him with a backhand slap. No, in this flashback they’re not dead yet. Malik is still piloting for him, Pritchard is still head of cyber security, and all the employees are still here, laughing, and having a good time doing their job and being able to leave for vacation when they submit their requests. Even Athene is smiling at other people that walk in that are not Sarif employees. Sarif always found that odd about her. He understands the love she has for him, almost like a brother, possibly a little more. This doesn’t bother him. He always loved having her by his side and maybe one day a little more to show Darrow that he has found someone else to fill his empty heart. She’s even the one who mentioned getting out and going to the charity that he got invited too._

_They both went together as a date. She looked marvelous. The purple and lavender shades of her long and swirly dress with orchid patterns makes her stand out among everyone. Sarif’s never seen anyone so beautiful. He takes her hand into his, and they start to dance. Both feeling comfortable, smiling into each other’s eyes, and the feeling of peace washes over them. He leans in, placing a kiss on top of her head. Her bright eyes light up and goes in to kiss his cheek. He gladly accepts it and spins her around! Her dress sparkles around her, giving way to make some room on the dancefloor. The crowd watches on in amazement as Sarif uses all the dance lessons he has learned over the years right for this very moment._

_They gone like this for a couple of slow songs. Nothing seems to kill the mood till he appears. The one and only Robert Page, clapping at the head of the couple, smirking away, and giving them fake compliments. Sarif stops and frowns at Page. Page walks up to Sarif and holds his hand out, he expects Sarif to accept this invitation, and his eyes shown to do it; or there will be consequences. Sarif looks at Athene, worried for her safety. She gently nudges him forward, telling him it’ll be fine. This is just a dance of power, so Page can show everyone that he’s on top of the world with that fake crown of his. Sarif’s unsure if she’s joking or not, but he does accept the deceitful invitation._

_Page wraps his hand around Sarif’s waist and places his hand in the other’s palms. They start to move around, trudging up against one another. The music has changed to a loud and fast one. Sarif’s never taken Page to be into men like him. Powerplay here makes Sarif think that Page just wants to show off that he’s in control of the situation more than promote the crown. Still, the other’s hands are nice and doing a good job of rubbing against his hip, trying to make him feel relaxed. Almost too relaxed. Sarif feels a wave of dizziness coming from those eyes. Almost in a drunken state, and the next thing he knows he’s being dipped downwards and teeth gnash into his neck._

_When he came too, he finds himself in one of the suites. Athene is not by his side and he has no idea where she’s gone. He quickly gets up, ignoring how heavy his body is feeling, and starts to make his way to the front door. It’s locked. He should’ve guessed that. He wants to panic, but he feels nothing coming from his slowly beating heart. What’s going on? Why’s he here? He’s asking himself these questions and finding now answers to. He remembers the dance, and then…the excruciating pain that came afterwards. He fainted from it. That much he remembers. What else can he remember? He tries to think clearly through all the in and out of faintness. Athene is yelling at men to let her go, and there’s the slap. Glaring at the ground he tries for the door again, it’s swung open and in comes Athene, covered in blood, and crying hysterically. He takes her into his arms and rubs his back. The smell of blood lingering into his nose. This can’t be good._

_Athene is trying to explain to Sarif what horrible Page did to her! He cut her on her shoulder with a steak knife. It’s why there’s so much blood all over, and why it smells so tasty. Sarif didn’t understand his own thoughts. He just wants to make a snack out of her. He licks her lips, holding her into a tighter grip, feeling her bones crack at the knuckles, making a sound that stimulates popping. Athene starts to scream in Sarif’s ear, telling him he’s hurting her and to let go! He doesn’t. He just wants a little taste. He leans downwards to lick her shoulder. Just…a…little…taste._

_She headbutts him, snapping him out of his trance. Sarif pulls away, shaking his head as he collapses to the ground. What’s going on here? Why did he just try to act out on a cannibal impulse? He looks up to see Athene backing away from her. She’s still bleeding from the shoulder. His nostrils flare up, and he’s doing his best to keep the strange thirst at bay. He clutches his head, picturing the slow dance they had together, and uses that as his clutch to help her. Quickly he closes his eyes and asks Athene to point to the bathroom for bandages. Her voice quiver when she spoke. He understands. He places a hand on the side of his face to shield any look to Athene as he makes his way to the bathroom to find a first aide kit._

_He opens his eyes when he finds the doorknob. Slamming inside he quickly tears the medicine cabinet apart. He finds more than just a basic kit. There are 0- blood packs and a surgical sewing kit. Gathering everything in his arms, he takes a deep breath, and over to Athene. He drops everything in his hands when he see’s Bob standing there snapping the woman’s neck. He screams at him, rushing forward to tackle him to the ground, and punch his lights out. Page measly side-steps the attack and knocks the wind out of Sarif. Sarif drops to his knees, coughing up a bit of blood, and passes out at Page’s feet._

_Page is disappointed at how weak and feeble Sarif is. The man is toner than he is, and he can’t even take a punch to the gut? Snorting, he looks over to the woman he killed. What a shame. The blood on her dress is making all the sequins shine brightly under their silver glow. Now he regrets killing her, but her loud mouth made him feel annoyed, and he didn’t like how she danced with his prey. What an obnoxious woman! He notifies some guards to come take her away and freeze up the body. Not before using two glasses to fill them up with her blood. Sarif’s going to wake soon, and he’s going to be thirsty and have questions. Page can’t wait for it._

_He does wake. He’s sitting in a chair with an inhibitor collar on his wrist. He tugs at it, trying to remove it with what little strength he has but nothing comes. He feels dizzy again and ends up falling sideways on the couch, unconscious again. Page had watched from the window. God, a disappointment indeed. He pulls a cigarette from his pack and starts to smoke it. He doesn’t feel anything from it. It’s for aesthetic purposes anyways. He’s already dead, so why not strut it off that he can still do this without the typical cause of lung cancer?_

_When Sarif awakes he notices a glass of red liquid in front of him. His eyes dilate at the sight and smell. He’s so thirsty. How long has he been out? Rubbing his head, he tries to control his urge to drink it. His teeth start to grow and prick his bottom lip. Long teeth? Sarif rubs his finger against the top and bottom rows. Certain teeth have grown long and pointy. Oh, God, what does this mean? Is he…he? Page laughs and finishes the thought for him, telling him he’s a legend from an old urban myth that humans confuse science as fantasy: a vampire. An actual fucking vampire. Sarif couldn’t believe it. He wants this to be some weird punked-out dream. That he’s on a hidden camera show, and Page is the mastermind behind the psychological drama. Athene is going to wake up in his arms and give him a kiss. None of this is real and everything’s going to be ok!_

_“Open your eyes, David.” Page purred out in the lowest tone he could muster. Almost seemed like he’s trying to flirt with the man. How daring of him._

_Sarif doesn’t comply. He wants everything to return to normal. No Page, Athene’s alive in his arms and writing reports up as she’s always done, and Darrow giving him a final kiss before his dark descent. The last two being the perfect ones he wants to keep in his memories. Not a cloud of bad thoughts needs to overload his brain. Hunger. Tiredness. Annoyance. Sadness. Page. Sarif opens his eyes, Page is leaning over him with a glass close to his own face. Page sniffs the drink, making loud sounds with his mouth that give off pleasureful vibrations in Sarif’s body. He’s toying with Sarif._

_The blood is making him struggle with his body. He grips the cushion, resisting the urge to pounce on top of Page and gulp down the drink. As an afterthought, he’ll smash the glass against the other’s face. He deserves it with how cruel he’s being and for what he did to Athene, the newly found attraction in his life. He misses her by his side already. Why do people around him have to die? He’s trying to save people with his augmentations. Make people better by making better judgement calls with the contracts he cooks up. Make them who they need to be and not what they need for science. His eyes light up at that realization. That’s why Page is doing what he’s doing with these mind games._

_“You’re going to use me and my company!” Sarif glared at the man, getting ready to yell up a storm about how Page and his company are vile scum of the earth. There’s no way he could ever participate in these radical scientific experiments. Vampires and augmentations? What’s the purpose? Vampires are already powerful enough, and the human technology attached to them would only make them feel weak and slow. They’re machines. Machines don’t run off human blood, they run off battery packs and disregarded protein bars._

_Page places the drink back under Sarif’s mouth, forcing Sarif’s to open with his hand. Sarif tries to fight back with his arms. He only stops struggling when Page’s foot meets his natural arm. He cries out in pain, feeling something crunch under the strength. A regrettable decision. Page dumps the contents of the glass down Sarif’s throat. Sputtering sounds are heard. Hands are grabbing Page’s wrist and he’s thrown off him. Page regains his balance before he hits the coffee table. He doesn’t want to break such things that serve as a table for their future desserts. They’re going to be here for a while. Page figured two weeks cooped up here with one another can give each other some insight. Sure, people will be asking where he is, but there’s always that excuse of taking some vacation time. Something his employees can appreciate._

_Sarif scratches at his throat as he chokes. He can’t believe what he just swallowed! It tasted like…like…a disgusting old lady! Wait, why’s he thinking this? Why an old lady? Why is he not ok with that thought? He just drank blood! Human blood from a glass! He grips at his hair, curling in on himself, and letting out loud screams. This wouldn’t do either. People are going to come in, investigate, and possibly call the police. The humans would that are staying here. Page will have to make sure that their other vampire guests make quick work of anyone who even thinks about knocking on that door. Sarif needs time to heal, adjust to what’s happening around him, and Page is going to make sure he gets that solitude._

_What’s the first thing he must do? Page wondered to himself. He is sitting down next to the curled up Sarif, rubbing a hand through the other’s hair, giving it gentle strokes as Sarif comes to terms with what he’s becoming. It’s almost a loving gesture, if Page has any attraction towards the other man. The only thing that’s making him feel this gritty is the fact he finally has one of his top competitors under his boot, under his control, and drinking out of his hand. If sex is involving on the side? Then that’s just a plain bonus but only for sex. Page has another crisis he must deal with. A certain long curly hair woman that clings to him like wildfire is attracted to him. He can’t say he doesn’t like her, no, but she’s just sex on the side as well. There’s no love between them. Page has no time for love. Only science and becoming dominant species over the governments that think his kind doesn’t exist._

_Sarif gathers some of his strength in his hand to smack Page’s hand away from his wrist. Page catches it, gives it a turn, causing a joint to crack. He didn’t like that. He’ll pet who he wants. All his newly turned subjects are grateful for what he does for them. How ungrateful. He lets go of Sarif’s hand, smacks him lightly in the face to let him know to remember his place. Sarif ignores him and the touch. Things are starting to get a bit dark for Sarif. He doesn’t want to feel this feeling of anger over not having a certain gourmet blood type. It’s weird, it’s abnormal, and he’s most certain that the woman that died right in front of him would agree. What can he do then? Laugh. Sarif lets out a small laugh, wishing he could use his own CASIE on himself to will away his problems and tell himself everything’s going to be ok, and none of this is happening. He’ll go further insane if he tries to convince himself that he’s turned into one of those urban legends._

_Page hums to himself. He’s seen something like this before with the others. “You really need to hurry up and accept who you are now. I don’t have time for your whining.”_

_Sarif looks up at Page through a peeked hand, his eye looks dilated and the pupil is shaking from the intense trauma to his mental state. “You turned me into this! All I can think about is how Athene’s blood is dirty and disgusting. It didn’t fulfill me at all!”_

_Oh God, what’s Sarif saying? He apologizes to Athene out loud repeatedly while looking at the blood-stained spot on the floor where she once laid. His head continues to loop in on him. The thoughts making his vision nervous and the screams in his ears start to get louder and louder. He doesn’t know how much more he can take of this! Nothing is comforting! He can see her, standing there with an expression of betrayal. She reaches out towards him, a delicate wrist touching his shoulder, and then there’s coldness. The hand is replaced with something stronger and leaner. Sarif opens his eyes to see it’s Hugh Darrow’s._

_Darrow. Hugh Darrow is standing in front of him. How is this possible? Sarif looks around his surroundings. Everything’s white with void all around them. Is he dead? Why’s his ex-lover here? How can he reach out to him? His hand, it’s actually touching the other man’s shoulder. He can’t believe this. It’s solid! It feels real! He wants to hug him! He does hug him! Nothing can ruin this moment for him. The tears and sobbing don’t stop. Darrow doesn’t mind. He wraps his free arm around the newly turned vampire. Letting him cry on his shoulder, telling him things are going to be ok. This is what’s supposed to happen._

_The scene changes around them. The white filters out to a strange planet filled with strange colored plants Sarif’s never seen in his life. Everything’s peaceful and quiet here. Purple and swirly blue outlines in the sky of stars mark out other planets above them. The shuttles that look like shooting stars move overhead to meet their destination. Some are low flying. They’re not the typical ones seen back home. These are designed to look like ocean animals. One’s an orca swimming at a fast pace above them. Doing a couple of flips in the stars, causing a splash that looks like waves of a galaxy. What in the world is this place? The passengers look like they’re asleep._

_Darrow catches the amazement in Sarif’s eyes. “Wonderful, right? They’re on their way to a different planet to visit their relatives. From a distance all we see is shuttles.” Darrow points his other hand to the sky. Wait, other hand? Darrow has his arm and no brace on his leg. The man doesn’t even have his cane! What’s going on here? Sarif looks down at his own body and takes notice that his own augmentations are gone. He’s all natural!_

_Darrow looks back at Sarif. “Pay attention, David. I am trying to give you a lesson here. You’ve always been a good student, don’t stray from your teachings.” He goes back to the sky and starts to tell Sarif about the importance of an illusion. At a far away distance something will shape to what the mind desires to see, because one can’t comprehend it. When up close, the idea is tossed aside, and people see what’s an actual reality._

_An orca with no passengers swims up next to Sarif, nudging him in the shoulder with its nose. Sarif backs away in caution. He’s scared what this animal can do. Darrow laughs behind him. He walks up to the whale, patting its side, showing Sarif there’s nothing to be afraid of. They just want to play. Sarif’s about to ask about “they” when he sees a couple of more join their friend. All doing tricks in the water, making their calls, and causing stars to rain to the black-ashen ground. They do look peaceful and content. No one’s bothering them or trying to kill them here. Are they already dead? Is this their Heaven? They get to swim in the stars above them and come down to play with the humans that try to wipe them out?_

_Sarif laughs when another tries to rub against his head. He likes it. “Woah, now! My hair is not a fish!” As on cue, a school of fish plunge out of the ground. What in the other world? They literally look like the earth! Muddy colors to represent the ground and blue waves to represent how much water Planet Earth has. They’re swimming up in the sky, around the whales, almost as if herding them back into the far above sky like cattle. When they’re out of their site, Darrow’s theory comes into play. They do look like normal shuttles from earth! The fish trailing behind them look like the shooting stars he had seen earlier!_

_“The shuttle fish don’t let them linger around too long. They have a job to do with the souls and are allowed to play as much as they want without consequences.” Darrow rubs his chin. “Don’t you think its strange that fish are leading the vultures now?”_

_“You expect me to answer that when I don’t even know where I am?” Sarif makes a point with his arms outstretched, pointing to the surroundings that look like they’re in a Fantasy novel._

_Good point. Darrow motions for Sarif to follow him. They come across a middle clearing. There’s a pitch-black ocean right in the center with a purple tint in the shadows that linger in the water. They resemble tall city buildings. Almost like the ones back home, but without the gold tint. Sarif leans over in the water to get a better look at them. Nothing strikes out as ordinary besides what’s been mentioned. He places his hand in the water, feeling a nice warmth coming from it. He loves it. He hasn’t felt like this since in years. Long since…since he willingly had his own arm replaced, so he could throw a ball better. This makes him feel like he made a grave error in his part, but if this place is like that of fiction, then he knows when he wakes up all this feeling will be gone. His arm will return to the cold metal state, and he’ll have to face Page. He’s not ready for that._

_“Second thoughts?” Darrow sits down next to Sarif. “I know you want to lean against me. You have my permission. You always have. What’s stopping you from speaking your mind?”_

_Sarif does as he’s told. He leans his head against Darrow’s shoulder. No, he lies his head down on the side of Darrow’s thigh. “Am I in Hell? I remember being undead and passing out.”_

_“No, you’re in rehab. This is Pluto.” Darrow carts his fingers through the others hair._

_“So, I am in Frozen Hell. Great.” Sarif moves to sit up. Darrow lightly stops him, not wanting him to move and just relax. Relax for a moment without thinking about where they are. Take in the surroundings, Sarif. Familiarize yourself with this version of the sins you’ve committed. Breathe it all in as Darrow explains. For each sin there’s going to be a piece of life that Sarif will face. He’ll have a chance to ask for forgiveness and if the soul refuses him, then its extra time spent here for the sin to purify itself. No one here has to forgive anyone. That’s the law of this place. But Spite has no welcoming. Whoever doesn’t forgive is also placed here till an agreement and closure can be met._

_Darrow continues on about what he’s learned from the people here. He’s met some pretty bad folk. Many that have been here for over 1,000 years. When Sarif asks why, he tells him their sins are on a very thin thread of non-forgiving. Even God isn’t that merciful, and he’s seen the mercy of God firsthand when landing here. Sarif tithes at the mention of God. God? An entity from those mythical interpretations what a creator should be? There’s no such thing as God or a hierarchy of mythical flying bird people. Darrow laughs. Tell that to what they’re seeing now and what’s around them! Darrow leans forward and splashes a hand down on the water. Sarif expects to get wet, but he doesn’t. Feathers is what he sees flying out. Fucking feathers. They land on him, disappearing without so much of a trace. Darrow calls it an angelic kiss. Sarif calls it an illusion curse._

_“Being a non-believer gets you no points with the patrons, David.” Darrow cups his hands in the water, pulling out bubbles filled with little white feathers. They disappear when the bubbles pop._

_This reminds Sarif…”Why are you here, Hugh? What did you do that’s so bad?” Sarif rolls up his pant legs and places them in the water. The earth beneath starts to sink, and little white feather minnows start nibbling around his toes. So, that’s what the feathers are. Really strange looking fish that give off good vibrations. When taken out of the water they look like normal bird feathers. No eyes, flippers, or dorsal fins. The evolution of science is really strange._

_“Playing God didn’t get me sent here.” Darrow mimics what Sarif’s doing. The same strange fish start to nibble around his feet. “The experiments. All those awful experiments I did on those…babies.”_

_“The white helix lab files?” Sarif turns to him in shock. He’s the one responsible for what he did to Adam Jensen? To the innocent children that died, and those bodies burned up in the fire? Oh my God, Hugh. Trying to be your own God doesn’t earn you time in the slammer, but killing said humans that had no chance to know what life is? That’s the ultimate sin._

_“I have done many bad things in my life, David. Genetically alternating children as a super immunization human being barely touches the tip of the iceberg.” Darrow hangs his head. He remembers his personal meeting with God. The conversation of self-evolution came up. Darrow thought at the time a thousand suns were going to be thrown at him but no. No harm came to him. Instead the almighty talked about how fascinating his creations are in the imaginative department and gave Darrow major props for accomplishing something that he’s given mankind through the surplus of the planet. Things were simple and Darrow thought he had been off the thought, then the laughter stopped and then the serious talk came…_

_Sarif cuts his story off, “Let me guess, he threatened fire and brimstone! Then made you walk to plank!”_

_“David, I know you’re an atheist and have no desire to believe in a higher being, as I once have, but please don’t interrupt my story.” Darrow pats Sarif’s shoulder and continues with it. Under no exceptions is a child under the age of 18 allowed to move on to the afterlife. Darrow didn’t feel any remorse for them. Their souls were going to die out before they even reached one, because that’s how bad their bodies were damaged. God didn’t like that answer. Talked about reincarnation and the new families they would find. Darrow didn’t see the big deal if that’s the case. A wind struck his face that day, knocking him through the ground and disappear out of the presences site. No final words, no final smiles. All he saw in those gray eyes were tears of sadness._

_“Is the story over yet?” Sarif looks on across the pond. Trees are swaying in the wind, and others are starting to appear with buckets. He watches them dip them in to collect the water. Watching them laugh and dump the feathers on the others. What a waste of perfectly good fish. Speaking of their feathered friends, where do they go? Do they disappear forever too? His question is answered when the ones that disappeared reappear all around them, flopping on the ground. It freaked him out and quickly pulled himself out of the water._

_Darrow calmly picks them up, one by one, placing them back in the water. “We’re here to learn the importance of mercy and life. We need to save these fish, David. I don’t understand this mental torture, because I still have yet to learn from my mistakes.”_

_No, this is Hell. He doesn’t help Darrow with the fish. He chooses to run away from him, into the forest with all the strange leaves. He slaps one, causing some leaves to fall to the ground and disappear. No, no, no! They’re just going to regrow! They do indeed regrow, they’re darkened. Why is it doing this? Darrow appears next to him, hand on his shoulder. He goes on how they need to go back to his place to get a pair of shears to trim the dead leaves. After all, life is sacred. They need to learn how to treat the life around them._

_“This is Hell, Hugh!” Sarif steps away from the foliage. “I can’t explain this science! The climate here must act rapidly enough for plants to wither. That’s the only explanation.”_

_“Do you have one for things appearing out of thin air? David, I expected better of you.” Darrow sighs. They go back to the little hut he’s staying at. Sarif looks around. A bed and a couple of books. Who knew the afterlife carried books? He picks one up, expecting it to be a self-help book, but it’s not. It’s a book about mystical fairies that roam around these parts. Fairies?! Who puts fairies in charge of damned creatures?_

_“Makes for quite the reading. They look after the fish here when people carelessly remove them from their territory.” Darrow chuckles. Well, almost in charge of all the fish. When there are people around the small beings make the humans do it. Almost cruel as watching people throw buckets of fish feathers on one another._

_“They don’t even look magical! Just miniature people with bird feathers! Where’s the crown, fairy clothing, and magic wands?” Sarif scratches his head in confusion. Sure, the wings are different colors and matches their clothing, but they don’t even have pointy ears or see through wings! Do they still have the mischievous attitudes? Do they lie? Will they eat them!?_

_Darrow takes the book out of Sarif’s hands. “Ever heard that God has a sense of humor?”_

_Sarif goes to speak, but he feels something rumble down at his feet. The earth is poking up and vines are reaching around his ankles. “What’s going on?”_

_“Seems like your body is starting to recover from you dying on the sofa.” Darrow leans forward, kissing Sarif on the mouth. He gets a kiss back in response._

_Sarif is forced away from the kiss and pulled out of Darrow’s sight. The endless void appears above and below him, side to side without anything amazing to view. Blackness surrounds him as he drops back down in his body and shoots up in a sitting position. He looks around him. Page is gone, the bloodstain is still there, and the glass before him is refilled. What the Hell? Did he really die? He looks down at the glass, there’s a note attached to it. Flipping it open he reads it._

_“David,_

_I have a meeting to go to. I refilled your cup with some fresh blood. No, it’s not the “old lady blood” as you liked to call it. Try it. No, I killed a brunette who just had a cappuccino. You might taste a bit of caramel. It’ll pass. As for further instructions, you’re to go to another hotel and wait for me there. We have a lot to discuss._

_Bob.”_

_Sarif folds the note and looks down at the glass. He smacks it away. Getting up, he gets a shower, and changes into something comfortable that is left for him. Afterwards he calls for a taxi and makes his way to the other hotel, where his flashback thought had started._

Sarif jerks awake by a blinding light before him. Shielding his eyes, he sees passed the blizzard a normal church with its doors open. Welcoming him inside. Turning to his side, he sees that Adam has passed out. Grunting, Sarif stands up, helps Adam to his feet, throws his arm around his shoulder, and pushes on forward towards the mystical gates. Making sure he takes a look around the sites. There are no strange blue barriers blocking anything. Just snow, woods, and a glowing light. Did the people chasing them give up on their search? Are there people chasing him? He forgets. His minor sleep didn’t help his focus.

Once inside, the doors slam shut behind them and a lock is heard. What the Hell? Sarif quickly sets Adam against the wall and tugs at the doorknob, figuring his super strength would give him an advantage. It doesn’t. He ends up falling backwards on his ass. Punching the ground, he curses the way his life is turning into. A lightbulb above him blows out in response to that retrospect. Sarif flicks it off, thinking it’s mocking him for his thoughts. Another one burns out, then a third, and a fourth, and a sequence starts, and the place is pitch black now. Sarif quickly goes back to where Adam is, making sure the body didn’t do anything funny. It didn’t. Adam’s body is still there, resting. Sarif breathes out a sigh of relief. He sits down next to Adam, pulling him close. They’re going to be here for a while it seems.

Sarif mocks the place when a brush of cold air comes in through the window, “What else you got, church? There’s nothing you can surprise me with that I haven’t already seen!”

As on cue a wind of show blows in Sarif’s face and out the other side, not once touching Adam. Someone has a sense of humor to bend the snow just to aim at him. Brushing it off, Sarif goes over to where the light is shining. He quickly closes the window and locks it, making sure nothing else can blow in when he turns his back. Turning back around, he goes to shut the other window. Only stops when he feels something crunch under his feet. Removing his foot, he bends his knees to see what it is. It’s a red Carola rose, and he just killed it with his boot.

 Sarif caries it over to the window seal. Placing is under the strange moonlight coming in through the storm. How is this happening? This unexplained phenomenon is backing his movements. This feels right. He gives it a pat, knowing it’s not going to come back undamaged, but he’s given his favorite flower a thought. Smiling, he closes the window and leaves the flower as is, while being completely unaware of the plump tear drops forming on the petals.

Adam groans, starting to wake up. Sarif quickly rushes to his side, making sure the man can’t fall over. Feeling thirsty, Adam smacks his lips, and lets out a dry cough. The phantom feeling of needing water or something to eat is lingering in his system. Along with the feeling of tiredness. He looks towards Sarif, eyes pleading with him to find something before he goes into a state of health he really doesn’t want to be in. What is there for Sarif to find? He gets himself to his feet, scanning the darkened area for any traces of rats. There are none. Only more red flowers and…white-yellow lilies in the bunch? They all look like they’re hugging each other.

The window with the flower blows up again. Sarif walks over to it, shielding his face from the incoming snow. He goes to close it, only stopping when he sees the flower is dripping a red liquid. He leans in to smell it. It smells like…blood. Real blood! Flower blood? He picks it up, ignoring the window shutting behind him and locking, and carries it over to Adam. Placing the flower to Adam’s lips, encouraging Adam to stop looking at him like he’s gone mental and drink the damn thing! He does because he has nothing left to lose.

Adam instantly feels rejuvenated. Eyes opening fully he lets out a few deep breaths of air. Things are becoming clear. Using his augmented vision, he takes a look around the church. The only thing glowing gold in this place is the abundance of flowers littering every beam and pew before him. There must be thousands of them! All glowing with silver teardrops, much like his augments. This won’t mean much to him if he can’t find a light switch under his vision. Standing up, he starts to move some flowers to the side, hoping his vision picks up something electronic. Sarif catches on and helps search too.

Sarif stops his search to look at the shadow. “Are you feeling better?”

“Don’t talk to me, Sarif.” Adam eventually does find what he needs. He turns it on. Nothing happens and a the final-final bulb lows.

“All the lights burned out. I didn’t know how to break it to you.” Sarif walks over to Adam. Pulling him away from the wall. “We’re stuck here in the dark till the snow passes and so does Page and his dogs.”

Adam pulls his hand free. “Great. Let’s get cozy and tell each other scary stories. That’ll surely make me stay. Thanks but no thanks. I rather take my chances with the storm.” Adam tries the door. It doesn’t budge an inch.

“Tried already. We’re locked-wait, what are you doing?!” Sarif takes cover behind one of the pews as Adam uses a heated Nanoblade to blow open the door. It fails and leaves a black charcoal mark on the wood.

“Trying options.” Adam fires up another Nanoblade. If he keeps hitting the same spot over and over again, it should eventually weaken, and hole should form.

“Wait! Stop! You’re just wasting energy!” Sarif ducks again when he hears an explosion. Looking up he sees that a chandelier above them exploded. The blade had ricocheted off the door and hit the structure above them, nearly missing Adam by an inch.

Adam looks at his power reserves. If what Sarif said about his blood being converted into his augments, then he should have unlimited energy. In theory this is a great idea, but there’s the falling objects above them that disagree. Any one of them could loosen under the extreme stress of Adam’s rapid firing. Then he could try other augmentations. He makes his armblades appear out of both arms and goes to crisscross the door open. The blades end up snapping in half. Sarif is in shock. These specific blades are made of a very complicated structure and shouldn’t have been able to break. What kind of crazy church is this?

Sarif runs up to Adam. “We can’t get out, Adam! Why don’t you realize this?”

“Because, Sarif, unlike you, I don’t give up.” Adam starts looking for an open vent. Anything to get him out of this place. It’s an old church that has to have some kind of ventilation shaft running through it. He desperately searches for one. Keeping his augmented vision on as long as possible, careful not to dry up the fresh blood he drunk.

Sarif pushes some flowers out of the way and sits down. He’s not going to try and argue with the stubborn man. Adam’s thankful for the quiet as he works while Kubrick is napping on a bed of roses, having pleasant dreams of chasing flower animals. 


End file.
